V, 



TWENTY-EIGHT OBJECTIONS 



AGAINST THE DOCTRINE OF 



Double-Birth Perfection 



COMMONLY CALLED THE 



it 



SECOND-WORK SANCTIFICATION ." 



TOGETHER WITH 



A Clear Statement of the Bible Doctrine Con- 
cerning Christian Perfection. 



ALSO A CONCLUDING CHAPTER CONTAINING 

Words of Advice to Young Christians. 



By J. K. ALVVOOD. 






it 



DAYTON, OHIO: 

Published for the Author 

1880. 




fr 



.6 



Entered according to Act of Congress*, in the year 1880, 

By REV. J. K. ALWOOD. 

In the office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington, D. C. 



The Library 
of Congress 



WASHINGTON 



^PREFACE. 



1. Satan can ruin souls only by means of deception. A 
knowledge of truth is the protection against deception. Next 
to the atonement made by the Redeemer of mankind, and the 
gift of the Holy Ghost, the system of God's revealed truth is 
the most precious object within the range of our contempla- 
tion. Our view of its preciousness is greatly heightened when 
we consider that without it the atonement and Spirit would 
avail us nothing. From this point of view their importance to 
us seems to be of the same grade. God proposes to save men 
by means of truth. 

2. But truth is valueless to all who receive error in its stead. 
All truth is harmonious. When, therefore, an error is em- 
braced, it renders the embrace of its opposite truth an impossi- 
bility. If that opposite truth be one of vital importance, then 
nothing can be more important tnan the displacement of its 
opposite error. 

3. We find men of learning grasping opposite ideas on vital 
points. One or the other must be in error. No one truth con- 
tradicts any other truth. But great scholars diametrically con- 
tradict one another relative to the most important points in 
God's Bible. This raises the apprehension that it is not entire- 
ly safe to allow them to do our thinking and searching for us 



VI PREFACE. 

on the subject of salvation ; but, with all the help they can 
give us, we need to do some careful thinking for ourselves. 

4. More than a quarter of a century ago I commenced the ear- 
nest perusal of the most approved authors on the subject of 
Bible holiness. I surrendered my judgment to those who ad- 
vocated the highest attainment. I embraced the "second-work" 
theology without reserve. No other topic of theology has oc- 
cupied so much of my attention as holiness. But the doctrine 
of the "second work," which should be called the doctrine of 
the "double moral birth" for the sake of perspicuity and of 
harmony with several expressions of its most eminent advo- 
cate, I was, by a careful study of God's word, compelled to 
abandon about fifteen years ago. Yet, distrustful of my own 
poor judgment on so exceedingly important a matter, I never 
allowed my lips to say, "I know the doctrine is an error," till 
about two years ago. 

I then became thoroughly convinced, by the unsuccessful 
efforts of one of its ablest advocates, that the doctrine has no 
support in the Bible of God ; that the teachings of this blessed 
book relative to holiness have been egregiously misunderstood 
by learned and pious men, and that an effort should be made 
to set forth both the error and the truth relative to this most 
important of all themes. 

5. While it is true that there are many good things in many 
works on this subject, I know of none that I would be willing 
to place in the hands of my children as a safe guide and correct 
interpretation of the sacred word on the subject of sanctifica- 
tion. 



PREFACE. Vll 

THE DOCTRINE 

here controverted may be clearly stated in five propositions, 
thus: 

(1.) Regeneration does not make the heart pure, but leaves it 
full of moral pollution. 

(2.) Purification does not occur at the time of regeneration. 

(3.) Purification is a work separate and distinct from regen- 
eration, and subsequent to it. 9 

(4.) A second effort at moral cleansing by the power of the 
Holy Ghost subsequent to regeneration is an indispensable pre- 
requisite to complete moral purity. 

(5.) A man may be a Christian, and yet be "fulIj of sin" at 
the same time. 

6. The authors herein regarded as the principal champions 
of the doctrine are Rev. Mr. Wesley, Prof. Thomas C. Upham, 
Bishop Nicholas Castle, Dr. J. A. Wood, Jacob Hoke, Esq., 
President Asa Mahan, Dr. Jesse T. Peck, Dr. Daniel Steele, 
Mrs. Hester Anne Rogers, and Mrs. Phebe Palmer. 

Dr. Adam Clarke is largely quoted because he is claimed by 
their latest authors, and quoted as a supporter of their views. 
I quote him as being acceptable on all sides. No opposer of 
the doctrine is quoted in this voluine. 

7. I have endeavored to bring every feature and phase of 
the doctrine face to face with God's Bible, which is the stand- 
ard and only safe guide in the way to the better land. 

8. All the scriptures claimed by these theologians have been 
prayerfully and carefully examined, and shown to give no tes- 
timony in favor of their doctrine^ Twenty passages only have 



viii PREFACE. 

been selected out of the many which testify directly against it. 
This is three more than they all have claimed on their side. 

9. I have endeavored to make the work intelligible and inter- 
esting to the plowman, and not distasteful to the scholar. Yet 
I have been a little more careful of the former than of the lat- 
ter, in view of his greater needs. I should rather endure crit- 
icisms on style from the critical than the accusation of "incom- 
prehensibility," from men of plain sense. I would rather 
sacrifice for explicit correctness than for euphony. 

10. It is but just to say that these pages have been written 
piecemeal amid the toils of a traveling preacher, delivering 
from four to six discourses a week to congregations in Michi- 
gan, Ohio, and Indiana. The toil has been too great to make 
this work what it should be. Yet these have been hours of the 
deepest joy and sweetest communion with the Holy One, the 
infinite source of light, life, and joy, in whom there is no vari- 
ableness nor shadow of turning, and to whom this humble 
work is hereby solemnly dedicated, with the prayer and hope 
that it may prove to many a means of a better understanding 
of the great salvation purchased by the blood of the Lamb. 
To this end I humbly ask the earnest prayer of every Chris- 
tian heart. 

MoFvENCi, Michigan, June 15, 1880. 



->CONTENTS.«- 



1. Preface. 2. Contents. 3. Phrases. 4. Twenty- 
eight Objections. 

page. 
OBJECTION 1.— It introduces and gives currency to the 

idea of caste in Christanity 17 

OBJECTION 2.— It assumes and teaches that God does the 
work of redemption by halves 20 

OBJECTION 3.— It assumes a deficiency in the blood of 
Christ . 21 

OBJECTION 4.— It assumes that God justifies sin 22 

OBJECTION 5.— It assumes that God dwells in an unholy 
temple 24 

OBJECTION 6.— It assumes that a soul full of sin can 
have peace with God 25 

OBJECTION 7.— The doctrine assumes and teaches that a 
half Christian, full of moral corruption, is on the way to 
heaven 26 

OBJECTION 8.— It lowers the standard of piety, and so en- 
courages sin 27 

OBJECTION 9.— It attributes changeability and duplicity 
to God 30 

OBJECTION 10.— The doctrine assumes that God can and 
does beget and become the parent ol sin 33 



X CONTENTS 

PAGE. 

OBJECTION 11.— It teaches that the life of God and the 
death of sin are compatible 34 

OBJECTION 12.— It teaches that a heart full of sin can de- 
light in the law of the Lord 36 

OBJECTION 13.— It assumes that God and Satan can and 
often do dwell together in the same heart 45 

OBJECTION 14.— It teaches that there is moral pollution in 
the image of God 47 

OBJECTION 15.— It teaches that God justifies souls and 
fills them with peace while in the neglect of duty and in 
violation of his righteous law 50 

OBJECTION 16.— It teaches that God approves and loves 
hearts that are full of hatred against his person, and of 
elements that tend toward the subversion of his govern- 
ment 52 

OBJECTION 17.— It brings perplexity, confusion, doubt- 
ings, and often backslidings into the minds of Chris- 
tians 55 

OBJECTION 18.— It leads to self- righteousness and self- 
conceit 59 

OBJECTION 19.— It leads to fanaticism 61 

OBJECTION 20.— It divides Christians 66 

OBJECTION 21.— It leads to the absurdity that moral qual- 
ities are individual, personal entities 69 

OBJECTION 22.— It misrepresents the testimony of the 
Holy Spirit -• 73 

OBJECTION 23.— The doctrine is a child of contradictions. 81 

1. On the definitive title, Double Moral Birth 81 

2. On consecration 85 

3. On the dominion of sin over the justified soul 93 



N 



CONTENTS. xi 



PAGE. 

4. On obtaining Christ without obtaining full salva- 
tion — 118 

5. On purification, instantaneous or gradual 137 

6. On the nature of the change wrought in santifica- 
tion 155 

7. On the conditionally or fatality of full salvation. 165 

OBJECTION 24.— It has no support in the Scriptures, 
where its friends pretend to find it 173 

1. Scripture — Rom. 7: 14-25 173 

2. Scripture— Heb. 6: 1-3 197 

3. Scripture— Eph. 5: 25-27 205 

4. Scripture— Gal. 5: 17 211 

5. Scripture — James 4: 5, 6 ,.„, 215 

6. Scripture— Luke 8: 14 221 

7. Scripture— I. John 2: 16 224 

8. Scripture— John 15: 2, 3 226 

9. Scripture— Matt. 19: 14 229 

10. Scripture— I. Thess. 5: 23 238 

11. Scripture— John 17: 17 243 

12. Scripture— Rom. 12: 1, 2 252 

13. Scripture— I. Cor. 3: 1-3 354 

14. Scripture— II. Cor. 7: 1 260 

15. Scripture— I. Peter 1: 16 263 

OBJECTION 25 —The sacred Scriptures are directly against 

lt 267 

Scripture 1— James 2: 10 267 

Scripture 2—1. Cor. 12: 13 272 



x \[ CONTENTS. 



PAGE. 
.... 273 



Scripture 3— Rom. 8: 9 • 

Scripture 4-Gal. 2: 20 274 

Scripture 5— John 8: 36 276 

Scripture 6— Rom. 8: 17 • 278 

Scripture 7—1. John 4: 12 281 

Scripture 8—1. John 1: 5-7 283 

Scripture 9—1. John 3: 7, 8 293 

Scripture 10— Gal. 5: 24 298 

Scripture 11— II. Cor. 5: 17 301 

Scripture 1'2-Rom. 13: 8, 10 309 

Scripture 13—1. John 2: 4, 5 t 311 

Scripture 14— Acts 15: 8, 9 312 

Scripture 15—1. John 2: 10 318 

Scripture 16—1. Cor. 3: 16, 17 320 

Scripture 17— Luke 14: 26, 33 322 

Scripture 18— Eph. 1: 7 329 

Scripture 19-1. Cor. 13: 1, 3, 13 332 

Scripture 20— Matt. 7: 18 337 

OBJECTION 26— Its votaries hurtfully ignore the soul's 
liability to backslide, and the nature and imperceptibili- 

ty of the backsliding process 339 

Backsliding— the possibility— facts— fallen angels- 
fallen men— Adam, Saul, Solomon, Peter— the 
church at Ephesus— Mr. Wesley's concessions and 

surrender 

OBJECTION 27.— The double-birth doctrine needs support 
from sophistry 3G3 



CONTENTS. XU1 

PAGE. 

1. Prof. Thomas C. Upham's sophistry on growth in 

holiness 364 

: 2. President Asa Mahan's mistake on partial faith..... 367 

3. A sophistry built on the Bible doctrine of holiness 
— "holiness people? — holiness meetings" 371 

OBJECTION 28 — The double-birth theology perverts the 
Bible doctrine of growth in grace, and confuses the mind 
in relation to it > 376 

Bible doctrine of growth in grace 376 

1. Growth in knowledge 383 

2. In faith 387 

3. In strength 396 

4. In Watchfulness 398 

5. In the habit of prayer, 400 % 

6. In the admiration of God's character r. 400 

7. In firmness 402 

8. In usefulness 402 

The triune firm— the decreed mode of endless bliss... 407 

9. Growth in the habit of restraining the physical ap- 
petite 407 

10. Growth in amiability — usefulness 409 

CONCLUDING CHAPTER —Words of advice 418 

1. Keep all on the altar 414 

2. Guard against love of the world 416 

3. Seek perpetual delights from God 418 

4. Constantly regard God as a present, personal asso- 
ciate 424 



Xiv CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

5. "Bring into captivity every thought to the obedi- 

ence of Christ" 426 

6. "Have always a conscience void of offense toward 

God and men" 429 



7. "Pray without ceasing" 434 







PHRASES. 




The phrases by which the supposed corruption of the soul 
after regeneration and prior to sanctification is designated by 
the double-birth theologians are as follows: "Depravity, in- 
bred sin, inbred corruption, inbred pollution, the old man, the 
carnal mind, the flesh, the evil root, the roots of bitterness, the 
body of sin, inherent sin, impurity, principle of evil, the seed 
of all sin, unrighteousness, unholy nature, unsanctified na- 
ture." 

Persons who have been born again, but never professed the 
blessing of sanctification as a separate and distinct additional 
work of the Spirit in their hearts, are by these theologians 
called the "merely justified, merely regenerate, unsanctified 
Christians the justified, the regenerate^&e. 



TWENTY-EIGHT OBJECTIONS 



SGftlNST THE 



Doctrine of Double-Birth Perfection. 



OBJECTION 1. 

IT INTRODUCES AND GIVES CURRENCY TO THE IDEA OF 

CASTE IN CHRISTIANITY. 

It does not go so far as paganism in India, di- 
viding society into many castes; but it adopts the 
same principle by dividing God's family into two 
orders, the saved and the half-saved, the pure and 
the polluted, the whole children and the half 
children, whole Christians and half Christians. 
One of their best writers characterizes the "mere- 
ly justified' 5 as "half Christians and half sinners/' 
They have not all had the frankuess to express 
their views in such terms. The expression is a 
lucid exposition of absurdity, and is therefore 
carefully suppressed by nearly all of their writers. 
But if the doctrine were true, the phrase would be 
a correct one; for a pure-hearted person is very 
2 17 



18 TWENTY-EIGHT OBJECTIONS AGAINST THE 

different from one who is "full of inbred sin." If 
the pure one is not something more than a Chris- 
tian, surely the one who is full of corruption can 
not be more than half a Christian. Can any one 
be more than a Christian? Can he be better than 
God's law requires all men to be? Can he be 
purer than the blood of the Lamb can make him? 
Surely not. Men are only Christians when they 
are what Christ's great salvation can make them — 
nothing more, nothing less. Rest is found only 
in Jesus' bosom; and the rest found there is per- 
fect rest. No other kind is found there. "Thou 
wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is 
stayed on thee : because he trusteth in thee." (Isa. 
26 : 3.) His law requires all and no more than he 
gives to all who "fly for refuge to his breast." 

How can we believe that there are two grades 
of children in God's family, when we hear him 
saying, "Of whom the whole family in heaven 
and earth is named." Bishop N. Castle, one of 
the most vigorous and zealous advocates of the 
double-birth theology, says, "Whatever else may 
be meant, we are most certainly safe in affirm- 
ing that God's spiritual kingdom— his invisible 
church, this mystic body of Christ— is included in 
this phrase, 'The kingdom of heaven.' This 
kingdom is called 'the church,' which is the body 
of Christ, himself being the head. * * * it is 



DOCTRINE OF DOUBLE-BIRTH PERFECTION. 19 

called the 'general assembly, and church of the 
first-born which are written in heaven. * * * 
It is called a family, and embraces the redeemed 
of every age and clime, and also those already in 
heaven." {Religious Telescope, October 22, 1879. 
Moral Status of Infants.) 

God's spiritual kingdom is a unit. His spirit- 
ual family is a unit. Part is in heaven, part on 
earth; yet it is all one family. God has no upper 
and lower grades in his family with respect to 
moral character. Some angels are mightier than 
others; but they are all pure— all alike in moral 
character. They are all his children. None are 
half children. There is no aristocracy nor yeo- 
manry in God's family. They are all children of 
a King. They are all of royal blood. They are 
all God's nobility. They are all enrolled in the 
"Lamb's book of life," The name of the weakest 
child of God is on the same roll with the names of 
Abraham, Moses, Elijah, and Gabriel. The infant 
member of a family is just as precious and just as 
purely a member, a whole member, with its twen- 
ty-four hours' history, as its oldest brother with 
a history five thousand times as long. And how 
keen would be the reproach and insult to the fam- 
ily, should any one insinuate that the little stran- 
ger is only half a member. How much greater the 
reproach and th a insult to God's family and to the 



20 TWENTY-EIGHT OBJECTIONS AGAINST THE 

Father of that family, to teach that the very 
young members are not whole members; that 
they are a mongrel order in the heavenly family, 
partly of God and partly of Satan? The slander 
is grievous, indeed. 

OBJECTION 2. 

IT ASSUMES AND TEACHES THAT GOD DOES THE WORK 

OF REDEMPTION BY HALVES. 

The work of redemption is a prodigious miracle. 
Lt may w r ell be regarded as a greater work than 
the creation of worlds. These will perish and be 
no more, but the immortal soul will never die. 
It will live in bliss or in woe while the cycles of 
as:es continue their endless course. 

[n the physical realm of God's universe, among 
ephemeral creatures, the Infinite has permitted 
hybrids. But everything is complete in its order. 
Jesus, the great physician of soul and body, never 
sent a leper, a lame, a palsied, or a blin'd man away 
half cured. Nor did ever a possessed man depart 
to his home bearing the tidings of a devil or a legion 
of devils half expelled and half possessing their 
tormented victim. When the incarnate King of 
Glory said to a disease, a devil, or a legion of 
devils, "Come out of the man," his resistless fiat 
settled all disputes about the tenure of position. 



DOCTRENE OF DOUBLE-BIRTH PERFECTION. 21 

Prompt obedience was inevitable. None went 
from Jesus under instruction to return for a 
second effort to complete their cure. He made 
them "every whit whole.' 

But these theologians tell us that this same 
King of Glory, this almighty Physician, does the 
most important of all his works in incomplete 
halves. Of course this is a baseless, beggarly as- 
sumption, wholly without foundation, as we shall 
sec. It is a disgraceful slander on Jesus as a 
physician of souls. It says, To one soul he is a 
whole Savior, to another he is a half Savior. 
Half saved is not saved. Then the regenerate 
soul is no more saved — according to this "second- 
work" theology — than Satan himself. 

OBJECTION 3. 

IT ASSUMES A DEFICIENCY IN THE BLOOD OF CHRIST. 

The sacred word attributes the salvation of man 
to the efficacy of Jesus' blood. It is agreed on all 
hands that this efficacy is applied to the soul at 
the moment of regeneration. This is done, of 
course, on the condition of entire surrender and 
unreserved trust on the part of the soul. This is 
the highest condition the soul can ever meet. 
When this is met the efficacy of the blood of the 
Lamb is instantaneously applied by the Holy 



22 TWENTY-EIGHT OBJECTIONS AGAINST THE 

Ghost; as Paul declares, "Not by works of right- 
eousness which we have done, but according to 
his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regener- 
ation, and renewing of the Holy Ghost; which he 
shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our 
Savior; that being justified by his grace, we 
should be made heirs according to the hope of 
eternal life." (Titus 3 : 5-7.) Here is a washing,— 
the "washing of regeneration," — which is by the 
same author and by John called a baptism. "By 
one Spirit are we all baptized into one body." (I. 
Cor. 12: 13.) "He shall baptize you with the 
Holy Ghost and with fire." (Luke 3: 16.) Both 
fire and water are employed as emblems of the 
purifying efficacy of Jesus' blood in regeneration ; 
and John, in his first epistle, 1 : 7, 9, declares, "The 
blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from 
a ll s in,— all unrighteousness." And yet the theo- 
logians under review have the temerity to tell us 
tliat that precious blood does not, at its first ap- 
plication, make a complete cleansing, but leave? 
the soul full of "corruption." Of course the hon- 
est reader sees that they contradict God's holy 
word. Hence they are in error. 



DOCTRINE OF DOUBLE-BIRTH PERFECTION. 23 

OBJECTION 4. 

IT ASSUMES THAT GOD JUSTIFIES SIN. 

The "second-work" theology tells us that the 
"merely justified" soul— that is, the regenerate, 
for it is never denied by any of them that the soul 
is invariably regenerated at the same moment 
when it is justified— is "full of sin." Dr. J. A. 
Wood, in his very pretentious and among "second- 
work" people very popular work, entitled, "Per- 
fect Love," quoting John Wesley, the theological 
father of them all, says, "If there be no such sec- 
ond change, if there be no instantaneous deliver- 
ance after justification, then we must be content, 
as well as we can, to remain full of sin till death." 
(Page 60.) Of course, God pronounces a soul just 
when he justifies it. To justify is to forgive and 
pronounce just. Sin is, by these theologians, said 
to be the soul's moral condition and nature, in the 
case of the justified. Then the doctrine regards 
God as pronouncing the sinful nature and condi- 
tion of the soul just; for he can not regard the 
soul as just unless he so regard its moral condi- 
tion and nature. It is a vile slander on God to 
say that he pronounces a soul just when it is full 
of sin ; for it is precisely equivalent to saying that 
he pronounces sin just. It is to say that God has 
no regard for moral distinctions. This is to say 



24 TWENTY-EIGHT OBJECTIONS AGAINST THE 

that he delights as much in moral turpitude as in 
moral beauty. This may be said of Satan and bad 
men, but not without slander of "the King in his 
beauty.'' 

OBJECTION 5. 

IT ASSUMES THAT GOD DWELLS IN AN UNHOLY TEMPLE. 

It is agreed on all hands that the Holy One 
takes up his abode in the soul at the moment of 
conversion; for as we have seen, — I. Cor. 12: 13; 
Titus 3 : 5-7,— he is the converting agent— "he 
saved us by|the washing of regeneration and re* 
newing of the Holy Ghost." "Behold, I stand at 
the door, and knock : if any man hear my voice, 
and open the door, I will come in to him, and will 
sup with him, and he with me." (Rev. 3: 20.) 
"Abide in me, and I in you," says the same con- 
descending King of Glory. (John 15 : 4.) "The 
love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the 
Holy Ghost which is given unto us." (Rom. 5 : 5.) 
Thus it is clear that God dwells in the hearts of 
all his children from the moment of their conver- 
sion. But the "second-work" doctrine says, as 
we have seen from Wood after Wesley, "They 
are full of sin." Now Paul declares, "the temple 
of God is holy." (I. Cor. 3 : 17.) Double-birth 
theology declares Paul in error. Whom shall we 



DOCTRINE OF DOUBLE-BIRTH PERFECTION, 25 

believe, Paul or these modern theologians? Let 
us cling to Paul yet a little while. 

OBJECTION 6. 

IT TEACHES THAT A SOUL FULL OF SIN CAN HAVE PEACE 

WITH GOD. . 

Paul says, "Therefore being justified by faith, 
we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus 
Christ." (Rom. 5: 1.) Isaiah calls it "perfect 
peace." "Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, 
whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth 
in thee." (Isa. 26: 3.) Thus it appears that all 
w r ho trust in God have perfect peace because they 
trust in him. Trust is active faith. Justification 
conies to ^the soul on account of its act of trust in 
the Redeemer. This justification brings perfect 
peace. But double-birth theology declares, "The 
merely justified are full of sin ; and if they do not 
get the second work they must be content as 
well as they can to remain full of sin till death." 
Thus they have the sinful soul enjoying God's 
perfect peace. But Isaiah declares "there is no 
peace, saith my God, to the wicked." (Isa. 57: 
21.) Thus we see this double-birth doctrine in 
collision with the eternal word again. Shall we 
give up that word ? Not yet. 



26 TWENTY-EIGHT OBJECTIONS AGAINST THE 

OBJECTION 7. 

THE DOUBLE-BIRTH THEOLOGY ASSUMES AND TEACHES 
THAT A HALF CHRISTIAN FULL OF SIN IS ON HIS WAY 
TO HEAVEN. 

In a letter dated "Philomath, Oregon, January 
22, 1878/' Bishop N. Castle said, "Compare Ro- 
mans 7: 25, where man is half sinner and half 
Christian. 5 ' They all tell us there must be a 
"second change, an instantaneous deliverance after 
justification, or it must remain full of sin." Dr. 
Wesley says the regenerate soul is full of "the 
hidden abominations, the depth of pride, self-will, 
and hell; yet having the witness in themselves, 
'thouart an heir of God, a joint-heir with Christ.' " 
("Plain Account of Christian Perfection: 9 Page 10.) 
Thus we have, by the highest authority among 
these theologians of the mixed theology, the half 
Christian full of sin. Now let us see about his 
being on the way to heaven. 

We see that Wesley agrees with Paul in recog- 
nizing every regenerate soul as "an heir of God, a 
joint-heir with Christ." Paul says, "If children, 
then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with 
Christ." (Rom. 8: 17.) So then we have the 
half Christian full of sin in possession of a good 
title to heaven. Now, is he on the way to that 
better land ? 



DOCTRINE OF DOUBLE-BIRTH PERFECTION, 27 

Bishop Castle, in his elaborate answer to the 
question, "Can a man be half Christian and half 
sinner at the same time ? " in Religious Telescope 
of June 26, 1878, says, "A sister once said to me, 
'I do not profess sanctification. If I were to die, 

would I be saved? 5 'Certainly,' I said, 'if y ou 
maintain your justification.' " Dr. Wesley teaches 
precisely the same doctrine, as we shall see from 
his own pen on a future page. Meanwhile let us 
seriously consider this matter of a soul "full of the 
hidden abominations, pride, self-will, and hell," 
traveling on the way concerning which Isaiah de- 
clares, "the unclean shall not pass over it." (Isa. 
35: 8.) 

OBJECTION 8. 

IT LOWERS THE STANDARD OF PIETY, AND SO 

ENCOURAGES SIN. 

Any theory or system of theology which leads 
a soul to the conclusion that it can be on the way 
to heaven while full of sin must necessarily neu- 
tralize the effect of the most powerful incentive 
to moral purity; namely, the desire to reach 
heaven. We have just now seen that this mixed 
theology teaches that the soul can be full of sin 
and on its way to heaven at the same time, — full 
of "pride, self-will, and hell, yet having the wit- 



28 TWENTY-EIGHT OBJECTIONS AGAINST THE 

ness, 'Thou art an heir of God, a joint-heir with 
Christ."' 

"Bishop Castle says: "Is there no seeking of 
fleshly gratification, no sensual and impure desires, 
no love of parade, gaudy dress, and costly decora- 
tion among Christian people; no seeking of hon 
orable distinctions and loud boastings of office and 
position among Christian men, and even ministers 
of the word ? Whence do these come but from the 
impurity that yet reigns within ? Indeed, this is so 
apparent that to pause for reasoning upon it is but 
to contradict a judgment that has ripened into 
unquestioned certainty." {Arts. ques. 4, Tel. June 

19^,1878.) 

In the same article this same author, comment- 
ing on I. Cor. 3: 1-3, says: "The question, 'Are 
ye not carnal, and walk as men?' may well be 
asked of many modern Christians, in view of the 
disaffection that exists upon the part of one 
.toward another. It will hardly do to say that 
they were not in a state of grace; for they are 
written to as being in the relation of babes in 
Christ. In Christ, and yet carnal ! Could they 
be holy while in this condition? One charge 
made against them most clearly indicates a soul- 
condition that does not comport with entire sanc- 
tification. They had envying among them. The 
apostle would say that they were sinful in thought, 
in word, and in deed." 



DOCTRINE OF DOUBLE-BIRTH PERFECTION. 29 

And yet the bishop would have us believe they 
were Christians. Here, then, we have the bish- 
op's model of a lower-grade Christian, "He is 
envious, boastful, proud, and sensual; sinful in 
thought, in word, and in deed." Yet he has a 
title to heaven, and is on his way thither. If he 
dies in this condition he will surely reach that 
evergreen shore. 

Prof. T. C. Upham chimes in on the same strain 
of mixed theology. In his "Interior Life," pages 
28 and 29, he says: "It is a great complaint in 
the Christian church at the present day that there 
is a want of faith. If we may take the statements 
of Christians themselves, they do not believe; cer- 
tainly not as they should do. And why is it? It is 
because they have not fully consecrated themselves 
to God. In other words, they continue to indulge 
in some known sins." 

Thus we see from the testimony of three of its 
most eminent and able authors that this double- 
birth doctrine justifies sin in some of its most 
hateful forms. How much does it lack of a full 
indorsement of all sin, in every form? Not 
much. All sin is rebellion against God. They 
tell us he justifies the soul in rebellion. 

Now this justification of sin in the Christian 
pulpit, this declaration from Christian theologians 
but a man may be proud, ambitious, boastful, 



30 TWENTY-EIGHT OBJECTIONS AGAINST THE 

sensual, envious, and full of sin and hell, and } T et 
at the same time a Christian on his way to heaven, 
is, as it seems to me, the best-paying arrangement 
Satan is able to run. By means of it he lowers 
the standard of piety, and ruins souls by the mill- 
ion. Such a doctrine is not of God, and will be 
rejected by good men "when the mists have pass- 
ed away." 

OBJECTION 9. 

IT ATTRIBUTES CHANGEABILTY AND DUPLICITY 

TO GOD. 

It does this by teaching that God at one time 
refuses to do for a soul what at a later period he 
will do for the same soul on the same conditions. 
Faith in God is admitted on all hands to be the 
one only condition on which he justifies and on 
which he sanctifies. None claim works as a con- 
dition of justification or of sanctification. "For 
our heart shall rejoice in him, because we have 
trusted in his holy name." (Ps. 33: 21.) "He 
shall deliver them from the wicked, and save them, 
because they trust in him." (Ps. 37: 40.) "By 
grace are ye saved through faith." (Eph. 2: 8.) 
"Faith was reckoned to Abraham for righteous- 
ness." (Rom. 4: 3,9.) 

Dr. J. A. Wood says: "What is the only and 



DOCTRINE OF DOUBLE-BIRTH PERFECTION. SI 

the proximate condition of sanctification ? Faith. 
'Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt 
be saved/ Faith is the only condition of sancti- 
fication; and God always saves the moment true 
faith is exercised." {Per. Love, page 80.) 

Prof. Upham teaches precisely the same doctrine 
throughout the thirteen hundred pages of his 
"Interior Life, Life of Faith, and Divine Union." 
John Wesley teaches the same in all his works. 

They all teach, also, that the soul must exercise 
full, implicit, perfect faith in order to obtain jus- 
tification; that he must make a complete, unre- 
served surrender of himself to God before he can 
be justified. In a letter before me, dated Febru- 
ary 2, 1880, Dr. Wood says, "No one is justified 
on partial faith." 

In a letter before me, dated Chambersburg, 
January 31, 1880, Mr. J. Hoke, author of sev- 
eral works on holiness, says : "In regard to the 
question, 'Can a soul obtain pardon—justification 
— on partial faith V I answer, No. Faith, in 
every case, must be full and perfect, or it is not 
faith at all." 

Dr. Daniel Steele, an author in high repute 
among the "second-work" people, in a letter be- 
fore me, dated Salem, Mass., February 21, 1880, 
says : "I do not know what partial faith is. The 
penitent who has faith enough in Christ to trust 



32 TWENTY-EIGHT OBJECTIONS AGAINST THE 

in him, and him only, will be pardoned. The 
soul ; -that -consciously withholds anything from 
God can not exercise saving faith." 

Dr. Wesley says: "The voice of God to your 
soul is, Believe and be saved. Faith is the con- 
dition, and the only condition of sanctification, 
exactly as it is in justification. No man is sanc- 
tified till he believes; every man when he be- 
lieves." (P. £., page 81.) 

Now I ask, in the name of common sense, and 
in- the name of an honest God, "in whom there 
is no variableness, neither shadow of turning," if 
the penitent must trust all in the hands of God 
and believe with a perfect and unreserved faith, 
and if "faith is the condition of sanctification, 
just as it is of justification," and if "every man 
is sanctified when he believes," how dare any man 
of ordinary sense and honesty say the soul is not 
sanctified when it exercises full faith in the Re- 
deemer, and thereby obtains "the washing of re- 
generation and renewing of the Holy Ghost?" 
How can God, without duplicity, offer salvation 
to a soul on the condition of unreserved trust, 
and bestow only half of salvation when that soul 
meets the condition by trusting all in his hands? 
God offers salvation on condition of trust. So 
says the Bible. So say these theologians. Yet 
the theologians tell us only the first half of sal- 



DOCTRINE OF DOUBLE-BIRTH PERFECTION. 33 

vation will be bestowed on compliance with the 
condition. The other half will not come now, but 
after a length of time — perhaps not till death. 

Though you comply with the condition on 
which God offers salvation, yet it may not "please 
our Lord to speak the word, Be clean ; and you 
must content yourself as best you can to remain 
full of sin till death." ( Wood after Wesley.) (P. 
L., page 60.) 

Shame on such bold, brazen-faced, slanderous 
theology, impeaching the veracity and sincerity 
of God. We shall see on future pages that the 
scriptures it claims for support scorn its effront- 
ery. 

OBJECTION 10. 

THE DOCTRINE ASSUMES THAT GOD BECOMES THE 

PARENT OF SIN WHENEVER A SOUL IS BORN AGAIN. 

( 

It claims that the soul is full of sin immediate- 
ly after regeneration, and prior to all backsliding. 
It claims that the soul can never be free from sin 
prior to a second change, another birth, "of a dif- 
ferent kind, and infinitely greater than any be- 
fore," &c. (Wesley in C. P., page 23.) They tell 
us that the regenerated soul is "full of sin, the hid- 
den abominations, pride, self-will, and hell." 

Now, any man of common sense kuows that in 

3 



34 TWENTY-EIGHT OBJECTIONS AGAINST THE 

regeneration the soul is born of God. John's tes- 
timony on this point can not be misunderstood by 
the honest reader. He says of Jesus, "He came 
to his own, and his own received him not. But 
as many as received him, to them gave he power 
to become the sons of Go4, even to them that 
believe on his name: which were born, not of 
blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will 
of man, but of God." (John 1 : 11-13.) 

If a soul is bora of God he becomes, at 
the moment of regeneration, the parent of that 
soul, and so* he parent of its moral nature, char- 
acter, and condition. If now it possesses a pol- 
luted, sinful moral nature, as these theologians 
tell us it does, then God is the parent of that pol- 
luted, sinful nature. The conclusion is inevitable 
on the premise they thrust into our hands. The 
logic of this blasphemous doctrine gives a sin in 
believers" a divine origin, and impeaches the holi- 
ness of God by declaring him to be the parent of 
an unholy moral nature. We shall see how se- 
verely the Scriptures are against it, if the Lord 
permit and help. 

? OBJECTION 11. 

IT TEACHES THAT THE LIFE OF GOD AND THE DEATH 

OF SIN ARE COMPATIBLE. 

Jesus said, "I am the resurrection and the life." 



DOCTRINE OF DOUBLE-BIRTH PERFECTION. 35 

(John 11 : 25.) "I am the bread of life: he that 
■cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that 
believeth on me shall never thirst." (John 6: 35.) 
"God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is 
in his Son. He that hath the Son hath life; and 
he that hath not the Son of God hath not life." 
(I. John 5: 11, 12.) 

It is agreed on all hands that Christ dwells in 
the heart of every regenerated person. He comes 
in and imparts the eternal life of the holy One. 
This fact is placed beyond all reasonable doubt by 
the texts just quoted. "Whosoever shall confess 
that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in 
him, and he in God." (I. John 4: 15.) This for- 
ever settles the question. The living God dwells 
in all his children. 

But the double-birth theology tells us that prior 
to the "second change," — the second part of the 
double birth, — the soul is still full of the carnal 
mind. Paul declares that "to be carnally-minded 
is death." (Rom. 8:6.) 

Here, then, we have the eternal life of God and 
the carnal death of sin dwelling together in the 
same soul. Life and death are wedded and dwell- 
ing in the nature and texture of the same immor- 
tal spirit. He who can believe such a theology can, 
by a little effort, believe whatever he decides to 
believe. Let us prayerfully cling to the blessed 
Bible, and reject such absurdities. 



36 TWENTY-BIGHT OBJECTIONS AGAINST THE 

OBJECTION 12. 

IT TEACHES THAT A HEART FULL OF SIN CAN 
DELIGHT IN THE LAW OF GOD. 

It is a fact so explicitly declared in the sacred 
word that the regenerate soul delights in God's 
law that scarcely any one in Christendom would 
risk his reputation on a denial of the fact. Israel's 
sweet singer declares, "His delight is in the law 
of the Lord; and in his law doth he meditate day 
and night." (Ps. 1 : 2.) "O how love I thy law." 

(Ps. 119 : 97.) 

1. It must be conceded by all, and is denied 
by none, that obedience to God's law must ac- 
company a profession of heirship to render it con- 
sistent, and that mere mechanical obedience, with- 
out affectionate heart obedience, is of no value in 
the sight of God. He "looketh on the heart." 
v 2. Under the stern necessity of recognizing 
these truths, Dr. Wesley, even in his sermon on 
"sin in believers," makes the unavoidable conces- 
sion concerning the regenerate soul, that "he 
keepeth the commandments of God, and doeth 
those things that are pleasing in his sight, so ex- 
ercising himself as to 'have a conscience void of 
offense' toward God and toward man; and he 
hath power both over outward and inward sin, 



DOCTRINE OF DOUBLE-BIRTH PERFECTION. 37 

even from the moment lie is justified," (Wesley's 
Sermons, Vol. L, page 109.) 

But on the precise contrary of all this Dr. Wes- 
ley informs us, as we have already several times 
noticed, that the heart of the regenerate man, 
prior to the "second work," is "full of sin the hid- 
den abominations, the depths of pride, self-will, 
and hell," Thus our 12th objection is seen to rest 
on truth. It is an idea that the votaries of the 
doctrine are perpetually bringing forward in the 
rehearsal of their experience. 

Let us take a glance at the experience of the 
pious Bishop U. Castle, as given by his own pen, 
with our eye on the point in our proposition. It 
has been published by a "holiness association," 
with the intention of presenting a view of there- 
generate heart before obtaining the "second work," 
the manner of obtaining that work, as they view 
the matter, and the experience after. We have 
not room for the entire tract. The bishop says, 
"I have been in the ministry eighteen years. To 
me this period of my life has been one of great 
dissatisfaction in more respects than one; princi- 
pally, however, on account of want of more spir- 
itual power and real pleasure in my work. I was 
driven during this period into many an unhappy 
strait; tossed on many a rough sea; well-nigh 
stranded by times on some fatal shoal ; swept by 



38 TWENTY-EIGHT OBJECTIONS AGAINST THE 

gales of glory atone time, until I seemed like the 
disciples on the mount of transfiguration, and 
then, at another time, plunged into the shades of 
the most excessive gloom, where all seemed well- 
nigh lost. With this strange variegation— this 
moral medley— in my life I spent many of these 
years. * * I found an unsteadiness and un- 
evenness in my life that by times gave me great 
concern. Not that I did not have during this pe- 
riod a hope of future well-being; but I seemed 
often to be wanting in that faith that gives, at the 
present, 'the substance of the things hoped for.' 
My faith seemed more a creature of emotion than 
an agent of lite,— more the effect than the cause of 
feeling ,— so that when I had strong and deep feel- 
ino* then I had, as I thought, an abiding faith. 
Just the converse of this was true under a reverse 
of feeling. I found many things in me that were 
averse to my profession. * * I found my be- 
-set'ments hard to lay aside. The motions of sin 
in me led me to feel as one of old exclaimed, fc O 
wretched man that lam! who shall deliver me 
from the body of this death?' I felt, that in a 
certain sense I had been crucified with Christ; 
but still the body of this death seemed yet to cling 
to me. The form of that old lire incumbered, 
and sometimes enslaved me. . In this condition I 
sighed for release. I wanted freedom from that 



DOCTRINE OF DOUBLE-BIRTH PERFECTION. 39 

warring law that was in my members, by which 
I was so often brought into captivity to the law 
of sin. I delighted, all this time, in the law of 
God after the inward man; but, notwithstanding 
this, I felt myself carnal, sold under sin; for 
that which I allowed not, that I did; and what I 
would do, that I did not." 

After seeking for a time, Mr. Castle found what 
he calls peace. He says, "My heart was filled 
with overflowing peace. Peace; yes, that is the 
word. Not another word aside from that kindred 
one, love, in our language, so fully expresses this 
state of grace." 

Well, this is precisely what the soul obtains in 
the first moment of conversion. Paul says, 
"Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace 
with God through onr Lord Jesus Christ." (Rom. 
5 : 1.) Peace; yes, that is what the justified soul 
obtains and enjoys while he enjoys justification, 
and on the same condition on which it was ob- 
tained. Isaiah calls it "perfect peace," and places 
it on the same condition. He says, "Thou wilt 
keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed 
on thee : because he trusteth in thee." (Isa. 26 : 3.) 

It appears from the bishop's own testimony that 
during his mixed experience he was "often 
wanting in that faith that gives, at the present^ihe 
substance of things hoped for." He did not exer- 



40 TWENTY-EIGHT OBJECTIONS AGAINST THE 

cise at all times that faith that brings the "perfect 
peace'' enjoyed by every justified soul, according 
to Paul's view of the subject. Had he constantly 
trusted all in the hands of his God, just as when 
he was converted, he would have constantly en- 
joyed that perfect peace. A faith that brings no 
blessing "at the present" never will bring a bless- 
ing. A faith which relates only to the future 
brings no salvation. This is apparent from the 
very nature of the case. 

When the bishop's faith failed, his love neces- 
sarily failed. He, like the church at Ephesus, 
"had left his first love," and needed to "repent 
and do the first works f for "he that believeth not 
is condemned already." "He that doubteth is con- 
demned." He that is condemned is not justified. 

If he had constantly trusted in God he would 
not have "found many things in him that were 
averse to his profession." God would have kept 
^him in that perfect peace which he found after 
the awful struggle. God keeps all in perfect 
peace who trust in him. He says, "I found many 
things in me which were averse to my profession." 
He professed to be a Christian. Then, according 
to his statement, there were in him many things 
w T hich were contrary to the Christian character. 
And this fact clearly appears from other state- 
ments, as we shall see. 



DOCTRINE OF DOUBLE-BIRTH PERFECTION. 41 

But in his answer to the question, "Can a man 
behalf Christian and half sinner at the same time?'* 
he says, "All regenerate persons are clearly Chris- 
tians, and will so remain as long as they maintain 
their justification. When that is lost they cease 
to be Christians." {Tel, June 26, 1878.) This is 
doubtless true; but how can a man reiain his jus- 
tification when he "finds in him many things 
averse to the Christian character?" It is simply 
impossible. Whenever a soul recognizes in itself 
things which are contrary to its own standard of 
excellency, — and especially if contrary to its own 
profession, — it can not possibly avoid self-condem- 
nation. And it can not rest a moment under self- 
condemnation without the condemnation of the 
Almighty ; for "if our heart condemn us, God 
is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things." 
Whenever conscience coudemns tile soul it is be- 
cause the soul has made a choice or decision be- 
lieved to be wrong, and so placed itself in the 
attitude of indorsing the wrong. This is a wrong 
attitude for the soul ; and the soul's conscience 
and the Maker of that conscience precisely har- 
monize in condemning it for such an attitude. 
Condemnation from God is therefore necessarily 
consequent upon self-condemnation. The bishop, 
therefore, could not stand justified before God 
when he saw in .himself things contrary to his 



42 TWENTY-EIGHT OBJECTIONS AGAINST THE 

profession. Yet lie wishes us to believe that his 
ease is a true picture of the unsanctified Chris- 
tian. 

Here is the point at which multitudes are ruined. 
They fancy that God overlooks the foibles of their 
self-indulgences, which they can not fully approve 
themselves. They endure the self-condemnation 
until they become accustomed to it, and conscience 
grows dull. The sweets of the first love quietly 
subside. "The rivers of pleasure" slowly dry up. 
The leaden streams of dull formalism slowly, 
sluggishly flow on. An occasional freshet raises 
a ripple; but it soon subsides. Faith rests in a 
bogus, home-made god> who overlooks the ac- 
cumulating impurity and growing habit of relig- 
ious sluggishness. The God whose eyes are as 
lamps of fire, and who hates the very shadow of 
impurity, is exchanged for the more indulgent 
one, and quite forgotten. All such hearts will 
some day be alarmed by the following clap of 
thunder: "Sanctify the Lord God in your hearts" 
(I. Peter 3: 15.) God is holy. As such he will 
reign in the heart, or he will not speak peace 
there. Men may speak peace to themselves, and 
be fanned into a slumbering peace by a soft theol- 
ogy on the lips of hirelings, when God lias not 
spoken peace. But God will never speak peace 
in an impure heart. "They haye healed the hurt 



DOCTRINE OF DOUBLE-BIRTH PERFECTION. 43 

of the daughter of my people slightly, saying, 
Peace, peace; when there is no peace." (Jer. 
8:11.) 

The bishop says: "The form of that old life 
incumbered, and sometimes enslaved me. * * * I 
was often brought into captivity to the law of 
sin." 

How can these statements be harmonized with 
the following? "I delighted, all this time, in the 
law of God after the inward man." 

Then, further on, he says, "But notwithstand- 
this, I felt myself carnal, sold under sin." 

Here are statements utterly irreconcilable with 
one another and with God's word. A captive 
enslaved by his sinful carnality, delighting all this 
time in the law of God ! There can be no such 
case. Paul settles this question with a solitary 
declaration, "The carnal mind is enmity against 
God: for it is not subject to the law of God, nei- 
ther indeed can be." (Rom. 8: 7.) When the 
bishop w T as "carnal, sold under sin, enslaved, and 
in captivity to the law of sin and death," as he de- 
clares he was, he was surely mistaken in the 
opinion that he "delighted all this time in the law 
of God." Paul declares it an impossibility for the 
carnal mind to delight in the law of God, 

The bishop has doubtless related his experience 
conscientiously, just as we have heard others r§- 



44 TWENTY-EIGHT OBJECTIONS AGAINST THE 

lating similar experiences in a similar way. But 
he certainly had not a correct understanding of 
his own heart at all times, or else— dare we utter 
the thought? — Paul had not a correct understand- 
ing of the moral status of the carnal mind and 
its relation to the law of God. When the bishop 
was "carnal, sold under sin," and "plunged into 
the shades of the most excessive gloom," he was 
most certainly in a backslidden condition, if he 
had ever been converted— of which there can be 
no reasonable doubt; for Paul declares that the 
"justified soul rejoices in hope." And there can be 
no rejoicing in the heart which is "plunged into 
the shades of the most excessive gloom." John 
says, "God is light, and in him is no darkness at 
all. If we say that we have fellowship with him, 
and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the 
truth." (I. John 1 : 5, 6,) Surely all Christians 
have fellowship with God ; for he dwells in their 
hearts. But "if we say that we have fellowship 
with him, and walk in darkness [or "plunge into 
the most excessive gloom"], we lie. Such is 
John's view of the subject. But he and Paul 
seem to have an entirely different view of the 
whole subject from that of the bishop. While 
the bishop thinks the Corinthians "were sinful in 
thought, in word, and in deed," and were yet all 
children of God, John thinks and declares that 



DOCTRINE OF DOUBLE-BIRTH PERFECTION. 45 

"he that comraitteth sin is of the devil;" and, 
"whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin. 
* * * He can not sin, because he is born of God," 
(I. John 3: 8, 9.) 

OBJECTION 13. 

IT ASSUMES THAT GOD AND SATAN CAN, AND OFTEN DO, 

DWELL IN THE SAME HEART. 

We have already repeatedly seen that the Holy 
One takes up his abode in the heart at the mo- 
ment of conversion. (See Acts 10: 44; Rev. 3: 
20; Rom, 5: 5; I. Cor. 3: 16; 12, 13; John 6; 
47,48; I. John 5: 6, 10.) 

We know that, as Dr. Wesley himself declares, 
"All sin is the toork of the devil" (C. P. page 12), 
and consequently where sin is there Satan must 
be also, as the cause. "He that committeth sin is 
of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the begin- 
ning. For this purpose the Son of God was man- 
ifested, that he might destroy the works of the 
devil." (I. John 3: 8.) Jesus said to the Jews, 
"Ye are of your father the devil." (John 8: 44.) 
This was not physically true; yet it was true. 
Hence it was a spiritual fact. They w^ere the 
spiritual children of Satan. He was the father of 
the sinfulness in them. He is the father of all 
sinfulness in this world. Wherever sin is found, 
it has a satanic parentage 



46 TWENTY-EIGHT OBJECTIONS AGAINST THE 

Now, the double-birth theology declares that 
inbred sin dwells in every soul which bus not been 
the subject of double moral birth. As Dr. Wesley 
states it, "If there be no such second change, no in- 
stantaneous deliverance after justification, we must 
be content as well as we can to remain full of sin till 
death." If the soul is full of sin, then, according 
to this author, it is full of the works of the devil, 
and consequently the abode of the devil himself; 
for he certainly must be present where he works. 
Thus we see that this mixed theology has God 
and Satan both dwelling in the soul of the believer 
in Jesus, the child of God. And Paul says the 
justified soul has peace. Isaiah says he has per- 
fect peace. Admitting these sacred witnesses, and 
taking the testimony of these mixed theologians, 
we have before us the astounding idea that the 
human soul can be the peaceful, quiet abode of 
both God the enemy of all unrighteousness, and 
Satan the sworn, implacable foe of all moral pu- 
rity, beauty, loveliness, and peace. Then Paul was 
quite impertinent when he asked the incisive ques- 
tion, "What fellowship hath righteousness with 
unrighteousness? and what communion hath light 
with darkness? and what concord hath Christ 
with Belial." (II. Cor. 6: 14, 15.) The mixed 
theology is wofully at variance with God's holy 
word. 



DOCTRINE OF DOUBLE-BIRTII PERFECTION. 47 

OBJECTION 14. 

IT TEACHES THAT THERE IS MORAL POLLUTION IN THE 

IMAGE OF GOD. 

This is a very grave charge; but the doctrine 
stands criminated by the testimony of its ablest 
and most zealous advocates. 

1. The sacred Scriptures and the advocates of 
this doctrine agree in affirming that every regen- 
erate person bears the divine image. These the- 
ologians all agree that the church at Corinth 
needed "the second work," when Paul wrote his 
letters to them. Aud Paul declares in his second 
letter — 3: 18 — "We all, with open face beholding 
as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed 
into the same image. 5 ' Thus it is clear that all 
Christians bear the image of God. 

Bishop Castle declares precisely the same truth, 
but, if possible, with a sharper definiteness. He 
says, "Every feature of the divine nature or image 
is imparted to the child of grace at regeneration. 
Every element of a man in Christ Jesus may be 
found in the babe in Christ." (Ans. 4 in Tel. June 
19, 1878.) This is very explicit. "Every feature of 
God's image, every element of the mature Chris- 
tian, are found in the infant Christian." This is 
in perfect harmony with Paul. It is certainly cor- 
rect. 



48 TWENTY-EIGHT OBJECTIONS AGAINST THE 

But a question here arises, Does the divine im- 
age, which is imparted in every feature to the 
child of grace at conversion," occupy the entire 
soul? or is the soul divisible into parts or sections? 
And does the divine image occupy a section or 
several sections, leaving the rest to be occupied by 
the "sin, the hidden abominations, the pride, self- 
will, the works of the devil, the carnality and 
hell," which these sapient theologians unanimous- 
ly declare reside in it simultaneously with the in- 
dwelling of the Holy One? We will let Bishop 
Castle answer the question for us. Surely his an- 
swer will be acceptable with all his brethren of 
like faith. In his elaborate answer to the ques- 
tion, "Can a man be half Christian and half sin- 
ner at the same time? " he says: 

"We must be careful not to employ a philoso- 
phy that is too physical in treating spiritual sub- 
jects. * * * When we can determine the 
mind by geometrical measurement, and for con- 
venience cut it into sections at will, then, and not 
till then, may we determine the quantum of purity 
and impurity resident at any one time in the soul." 
{Tel, June 26, 1878.) 

This is very fine, and the bishop is a good witness 
agreeing with every true metaphysician that the 
soul is an indivisible unit. Hence it becomes ob- 
vious that whatever moral character attaches to a 



DOCTRINE OF DOUBLE-BIRTH PERFECTION. 49 

part of the soul, must necessarily attach to its entire 
being. It would be nonsensical to talk of a part 
of the soul loving and the rest hating God, or his 
law, or his ways; or to talk of a part of the soul 
being pure and the rest being impure. Yet in the 
very next sentence after the one above quoted 
concerning the "features of the divine image/' the 
bishop declares, "But these [features] exist in a 
nature as yet studded or interlarded with evil. 
The new life, with all the elements requisite to 
constitute it, is commenced in the soul, but a com- 
plete death unto sin is not reached until this mixed 
moral state issues in one purely homogeneous.' 
(Hereafter the reader will not accuse me of sever- 
ity in the use of the expression "mixed theology.") 
Thus we see that this theology mixes sin with 
the divine image in the soul. It declares— what 
we all know— that the entire divine image of God 
is impressed on the soul at conversion; that the 
soul is an indivisible unit; and that therefore what- 
ever is impressed on any part of the soul must nec- 
essarily be impressed on every part of it ; that is, on 
the entire soul. And yet it declares that the soul 
is full of sin at the same time. Then sin must be 
blended with the divine image. There is no es- 
caping this conclusion from the premises they lay 
down. Its deductions are blasphemous. It should 

be abandoned by every sensible man. 
i 



50 TWENTY-EIGHT OBJECTIONS AGAINST THE 

OBJECTION 15. 

IT TEACHES THAT GOD JUSTIFIES SOULS AND FILLS 
THEM WITH LOVE, JOY, PEACE, AND THE HOPE OF 

" ETERNAL GLORY WHILE IN THE NEGLECT OF DUTY 
AND IN THE VIOLATION OF HIS HOLY LAW. 

God commands all men everywhere, "Ye shall 
be holy: for I the Lord your God am holy." 
(Lev. 19:2.) "Be filled with the Spirit." (Eph. 
5 : 18.) "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with 
all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all 
thy mind. This is the first and great command- 
ment. And the second is like unto it, Thou 
shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two 
commandments hang all the law and the proph- 
ets." (Matt. 22 : 37-40.) Paul declares, "Love is 
the fulfilling of the law." No man dare deny that 
these commandments, which embrace all God's 
* moral requirements, are binding on every moral 
being, whether he be justified or not. All God's 
law is binding on all men. The sum of its require- 
ments is love to God and love to all men. And 
no man dares to say that he is exempt from its 
Requirements. God says, "Behold, now is the ac- 
cepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation." 
Dr. Wood after Br. Wesley says, "With God one 
day is as a thousand years; it plainly follows that 



DOCTRINE OF DOUBLE-BIRTH PERFECTION. 51 

the quantity of time is nothing with him. Cen- 
turies, years, months, days, hours, and moments 
are exactly the same ; consequently he can as well 
sanctify us in a day after we are justified, as a 
hundred years. There is no difference at all." 
(P. L. pp. 70, 71.) Well, then, is there no differ- 
ence at all with God as to time; and especially if 
the condition of both justification and sattetifica- 
tion is simple faith, as we have seen, how dare any 
man say that they do not both occur at the 
same moment. Not a shadow of evidence or of 
reason can be shown for a chronological division 
of the two events, unless we throw away the data 
just now taken from the sacred word and these 
eminent doctors. The point to which we are 
drawing special attention just now is, that it is 
every man's duty to be holy. On this point these 
doctors perfectly harmonize with the Scriptures. 
But they seem to forget that their logic and ten- 
ets conspire to place the justified soul in the at- 
titude of rebellion, and the rebellious soul in the 
category of the justified. Dr. Wood expresses the 
sentiment of his whole school of theologians, and 
also of Scripture, when he says, "A free and full 
salvation trom all sin is the present and constant 
privilege and duty of all believers" (P. L. p. 71.) 
Very well. Can a man live one moment in the 
neglect of duty without incurring guilt ? No man 



52 TWENTY-EIGHT OBJECTIONS AGAINST THE 

dares affirm it. Does guilt harmonize with justi- 
fication ? No one dares to affirm that they can 
harmonize for a solitary second of time. Then no 
soul can, by any possibility, enjoy the justifying 
smile of God for a solitary second of time prior to 
the discharge of all the duties enjoined upon him 
by the perfect law of God. But they tell us that 
a soul can enjoy the sweet, justifying smiles of 
God through a long course of years in the neglect 
of duty and full of the carnal mind,— "enmity 
against God,"— and "sinful in thought, word, and 
deed." This is what I call mixed theology. It 
contradicts common sense, the sacred word, and 
itself. Let the leprous mongrel perish. 

OBJECTION 16. 

IT ASSUMES AND TEACHES THAT GOD LOVES AND AP- 
PROVES HEARTS THAT ARE FULL OF HATRED AGAINST 
HIM, AND OF ELEMENTS THAT TEND TOWARD THE 
SUBVERSION OF HIS GOVERNMENT. 

Dr. J. A. Wood, quoting Br. Wesley, says, 
"Though we watch and pray ever so much, we 
can not cleanse either our hearts or our hands. 
Most surely we can not till it please our Lord to 
speak to our hearts again—to speak the second 
time, Be clean; and then only the leprosy is 



DOCTRINE OF DOUBLE-BIRTII PERFECTION. 53 

cleansed. Then only the evil root, the carnal mind, 
is destroyed. Inbred sin subsists no more." 

Thus we see that the eminent father of these 
theologians declares that we are all possessed of 
the carnal mind until we obtain the second cleans- 
ing. All that can ever be done for us can never 
deliver from the carnal mind prior to the second 
effort of Deity. 

Well, Paul declares, "The carnal mind is enmi- 
ty against God : for it is not subject to the law of 
God, neither indeed can be." (Rom. 8: 7.) Now 
"enmity" seeks the destruction of its object. This 
is an undisputed truth. Enmity would dethrone 
Deity, murder Omnipotence, and place itself upon 
the throne of the universe if it could have its own 
way. All that saves the throne of God from the 
usurpation of Diabolus, or any of his subordinate 
devils or servants, is their want of power — the 
superior power of God. 

And this same hellish disposition is by these 
theologians attributed to every child of God who 
has not had the double moral birth. And yet 
they never pretend to deny that each one enjoys 
peace with God. Dr. Wesley declares of the pen- 
itent, "In their trouble they cry unto the Lord, 
and he shows them that he hath taken away their 
sins and opened the kingdom of heaven in their 
hearts; 'righteousness and joy and peace in the 



54 TWENTY-EIGHT OBJECTIONS AGAINST THE 

Holy Ghost.' Sorrow and pain have fled away, and 
sin has no more dominion over them. Knowing 
that they are justified freely through faith in 
Christ's blood, 'they have peace with God through 
Jesus Christ;' they 'rejoice in the hope of the 
glory of God ;' and 'the love of God is shed abroad 
in their hearts.'" (C. P., page 9.) 

And yet these are the identical persons of whom 
this same eminent father of the mixed theology 
declares they are "full of sin," "the hidden abom- 
inations, pride,' self-will, hell," and "the carnal 
mind," which Paul declares is "enmity against 
God." Thus, taking Dr. Wesley in the use of 
Paul's terms and Paul's definitions of his own 
terms, we have millions of souls living and dying 
in possession of hatred against God and the most 
destructive elements of moral character, yet en- 
joying the approving smiles and justifying grace 
and love of God, and the blissful hope of eternal 
'glory; for millions have lived and died in the 
justified, regenerate state without ever hearing of 
the "second work." They have either gone to 
hell, or else have taken their "carnal mind" to 
heaven to do its mischief there, or else they have 
have had it unconditionally removed at the mo- 
ment of death. One of these three suppositions 
must be true if the doctrine under review were 
true. We know that neither is true. This sug- 



DOCTRINE OF DOUBLE-BIRTH PERFECTION. 55 

gests a topic of thought that shall, if the Lord 
permit and help, have due attention on a future 
page. 

OBJECTION 17. 

IT BRINGS PERPLEXITY, CONFUSION, DOUBTINGS, AND 
OFTEN BACKSLIDINGS INTO THE MINDS OF CHRIS- 
TIANS. 

Persons in the visible church who were never 
born again, persons who were unconsciously back- 
slidden, becoming justly alarmed about their 
moral condition, and, under the leadership of 
double-birth theologians, seeking a better state, 
have obtained salvation. Others in the enjoyment 
of moral purity, but under the influence and direc- 
tion of these theologians, have obtained a fresh 
baptism of power, as did the disciples on Pente- 
cost, although, as we shall see, they were pure in 
heart before that memorable day. All these, un- 
der the directions mentioned, have gone forth de- 
claring to others, in all sincerity, that they had 
actually experienced the second work. To any 
who might offer a word of objection they could 
say, "We have experienced for ourselves, and need 
no instruction on the point. We know what we 
have have experienced." 

[I could name a gentleman who would listen to 
no evidence on the scriptural and reasonable side 



56 TWENTY-EIGHT OBJECTIONS AGAINST THE 

of this question, and regarded nothing but his 
"experience." Afterward he acknowledged to 
me that he was not morally right. Said he, "1 am 
not ris;ht."] Thousands of instances of the sev- 
eral kinds above named have occurred where there 
were none of the blind theologians to mislead them; 
and the thought of a -"second work," additional 
to and distinct from regeneration, never once oc- 
curred to their minds, although their experience 
was precisely the same. But those under the in- 
struction of these double-birth teachers have gone 
out to spread perplexity, doubt, and confusion in 
the minds of Christians; and in many instances 
they have caused backslidings, and even infidel- 
ity. 

With a repulsive boldness they have disgusted 
some, and intimidated and captured others. The 
Christian is modest and humble. He wants all 
there is of redemption. When he hears a fellow- 
' being with apparent sincerity declaring from ex- 
perience the possibility of attainments apparently 
far above his own, knowing that human nature 
and surroundings tend to submerge the soul in 
moral pollution, and a crafty devil is constantly 
seeking the destruction of all, he feels distrustful 
of his own judgment, and is in many instances 
easily thrown into doubt concerning his own moral 
state. 



DOCTRINE OF DOUBLE-BIRTH PERFECTION. Of 

Now the theologian, with much more zeal than 
knowledge, presses his doctrine and misleads a 
soul. Hester Ann Rogers, according to her own 
statements, lost her justification seeking the "sec- 
ond work." In desperate anguish she again laid 
hold on the eternal Arm, and was saved as before. 
But the contrast between the awful agony and the 
Mveet peace was so great, and the second-work 
theology had been so thoroughly instilled by 
minds regarded as vastly superior and almost in- 
fallible, that she considered herself, beyond all 
doubt, in possession of a far higher moral state 
than ever before. This wide contrast after a des- 
perate struggle has much to do with molding and 
fixing the opinions of noble minds in favor of the 
"second-work" theology. 

A pious gentleman of my acquaintance was at 
one time so confused and, as it were, stunned by 
the bold declaration of an evangelist of the double- 
birth school who told him plainly that he was in 
a state of moral pollution, and needed a "second 
cleansing," that he could not pray. His pious 
wife became exceedingly alarmed and greatly dis- 
tressed for him. After a long struggle in ago- 
nizing prayer for him she inquired if he felt any 
condemnation. He answered that he did not in 
the least, but yet his faith wa3 so confused .that 
he could not pray as before. Her agony for him 



58 TWENTY-EIGHT OBJECTIONS AGAINST THE 

became so intense that he became alarmed for her 
physical and mental safety, and urged her to de- 
sist from praying and retire to rest. She could 
not. It was an alarming crisis. She feared there 
might be something desperate in his case; and he 
was alarmed over her 'distress. By means of the 
fact that he could feel no condemnation, he at last 
persuaded her to desist and retire to rest in slum- 
ber. On the following Sabbath this excellent 
gentleman, at church, was, in an extraordinary 
and, as he believes, supernatural manner, com- 
missioned and empowered to bear scathing testi- 
mony against the destructive doctrine. He evi- 
dently fell into a trance, and saw the Lord before 
him, urging him to "get up and say what he 
could." He declined a long time. Still the 
glorious personage urged, "Get up and say what 
you can." At length he arose and commenced tell- 
ing what he saw, when his tongue was unloosed, 
and he was remarkably empowered with* the gift 
of speech. I was at the meeting soon after. 

A few years ago a very pious lady became so 
confused with this doctrine that, under the dread- 
ful burden of perplexity and desperate solicitude, 
she took the awful leap into the land unseen by 
stepping into a well for that purpose. 

Whenever men undertake to gather testimony 
from God's Bible in support of a doctrine which 



DOCTRINE OF DOUBLE-BIRTH PERFECTION, 59 

he never taught, they inevitably run into confusion 
if they persist in the belief of the doctrine. And 
when they undertake to teach such doctrine, bring- 
ing alleged proof from God's word, they run other 
minds into confusion. A number of young con- 
verts were rushed into confusion and driven from 
the religion of Christ by their pastor, who under- 
took to get them into the belief and practice of 
this "second- work" doctrine soon after they were 
converted. It occurred near where I write. 

OBJECTION 18. 

IT LEADS TO SELF-RIGHTEOUSNESS AND SELF-CONCEIT. 

This is one of its inevitable consequences. The 
man who confidently believes that he is superior 
to his neighbor can not possibly avoid feeling just 
as though he were actually superior to that neigh- 
bor. The man w T ho believes himself in possession 
of a superior grade of religion to that possessed 
by his brother Christian can not avoid a corre- 
sponding feeling of superiority. A man's feeling, 
in such cases, will be governed by his belief. It 
is unavoidable. That a Christian should believe 
and fed himself morally superior to a vile sinner, 
a rough sensualist, or a niggardly miser is alto- 
gether proper, because it is a simple recognition 
of facts as they exist; and he could not avoid it 



60 TWENTY-EIGHT OBJECTIONS AGAINST THE 

without violence to his own understanding. So by 
the same mental process, operating on false pre- 
mises, the man who believes himself a specimen 
of a superior order of Christians reaches a con- 
clusion which places him on the upper side of a 
wide contrast between himself and his brethren 
of a lower order. This falsely puts his imagina- 
tion in possession of a degree or quantity of moral 
excellency which he does not actually possess. 
This, then, is imaginary; that is, unreal or false 
righteousness. And all such is ^/-righteous- 
ness. The conclusion is inevitable if we stick to 
Bible premises. He who fancies himself in pos- 
session of more righteousness than is requisite to 
render him a child of the Holy One is in posses- 
sion of an imaginary, surplus article, orginated 
by his misguided imagination. 

As to the matter of self-conceit, I could give 
the names of persons— not brainless, but mis- 
guided,— who claim a knowledge and perception 
of spiritual and divine things so high and great 
as to place them above the need of the Bible. 
This is a degree of self-reliance that is frightfully 

dangerous. 

It is a thing so common as scarcely to need 
mentioning for this class of theologians to tell 
persons of unblemished piety, "You do not enjoy 
the higher life;" "you need the second work;" 



DOCTRINE OF DOUBLE-BIRTH PERFECTION. 61 

"you need a cleansing," etc. I have witnessed 
this when I knew the self-constituted judge was 
laboring under a mistaken notion. He was an 
extensively-indorsed evangelist of the doctrine. 
His self-confidence seemed limitless. This is com- 
mon with them. It gives them a "cheekiness" 
that is not sweet nor beautiful to men of piety and 
sense. 

OBJECTION 19. 

IT LEADS TO FANATICISM AND ANTINOMIANISM. 

"Whenever a man sets up his own experience, 
his own impulses and impressions, as the standard 
and rule of action, he is sure to become a victim 
of fanaticism. The word of God is the onlv in- 
fallible guide in matters of religion. The mind's 
eye should be kept constantly upon it. Every 
affection, every motive, every passion, every im- 
pulse, every desire, every thought, should be 
weighed in its balances, measured by its rule, and 
tested in its crucible. Whoever neglects this holy 
word runs wild. God doubtless quickens the per- 
ceptions, the memory, the judgment, the reason- 
ing powers of his children when they pray to him 
in humble faith for such helps. He gives wisdom 
,to those who ask him in faith. He gives spiritual 
and intellectual strength to overcome temptation 



62 TWENTY-EIGHT OBJECTIONS AGAINST THE 

and to labor for his kingdom. He gives peace and 
joy. "The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace," 
etc. Love is partly emotional, and joy is purely 
so. Hence there is an emotional element in the 
Christian religion. Emotion is an essential part 
of Holy-Ghost religion; that is, the religion of 

Jesus Christ. 

Yet he who undertakes to run by emotions, 
impulses, and impressions, apart from God's Bible, 
expecting God to guide him independently of his 
word, will surely run into fanaticism and an- 
tinomianism. He runs away from God's plan, and 
must therefore run astray. 

John Noyes, founder of Oneida communism, 
and author of free-loveism, claiming Christian 
perfection, said, "If you want good instruction, 
close your eyes and look within." In perfect har- 
mony with this sentiment, the tallest speaker, that 
is, the leading spirit at the National Spiritualist 
Convention in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1863, said, 
"Man has reached perfection only when he is per- 
fectly free from all restraint from extraneous in- 
fluences." 

About fifty years ago, as I am informed by the 
president of a college in Michigan, who once re- 
sided in York County, Maine, where the society 
existed, an association of "Perfectionists" used to 
hold their religious meetings in a state of nudity, 



DOCTRINE OF DOUBLE-BIRTU PERFECTION. 63 

to demonstrate their invulnerability to temptation. 
After awhile thev disregarded the common laws 
of chaste society in their indiscriminate com- 
mingling of sexes, claiming that they were no 
more under the moral law, and whatever they 
might do was right, being incited by the impulses 
of pure hearts. 

In Branch County, Michigan, a young lady and 
her mother became so holy — in their own eyes — 
that the daughter especially reached the conclusion 
that her mother could not retain her holiness unless 
father left home. She separated her parents. The 
good old man started for Pennsylvania, weeping, 
especially grieved because he was not permitted 
to "see mother and say farewell." The ladies 
were simply blind with "second-work" fanaticism. 

A Mr. J. H., in Fulton County, Ohio, said 
(snapping his finger), "I would not give that for the 
Bible." Not that he repudiated the Bible; but 
he was so high in "second- work holiness," and so 
well guided by the Spirit, as he verily believed, 
that he was no longer in need of that book. He is 
far above it. I have known him well for many 
years. He is far from being brainless. He is nat- 
urally shrewd, and has an extensive knowledge 
of men and practical things. He has simply fol- 
lowed the ignus-fatuus of false doctrine till he has 
reached the quagmire of fanaticism. 



64 TWENTY-EIGHT OBJECTIONS AGAINST THE 

In the same county an intelligent, wealthy 
farmer, perfectly sane on all subjects except the 
"second-work sanctification," feeling himself so 
moved by the Spirit, as he believed, seized a chair, 
smashed down a glass-pan neled door, then threw 
the chair through a window, jumped through, 
and ran like a wild man. 

In a village in Indiana an evangelist of the 
double-birth doctrine, with his band of helpers, 
undertook to heal a partially blind lady and to 
give hearing to a deaf boy. Of course, they failed ; 
yet they maneuvered, with the help of a cheap 
editor of their own kind, to publish abroad some 
things that sounded like modern wonders. The 
wonder in the case is God's merciful forbearance 
toward the blind religious fanatics. 

A Rev. Mr. W., a zealous advocate of double 
birth, thinks it would be perfectly right for him 
to do whatever he might feel inclined to do. 
He is so pure that nothing would be sinful to 

him. 

A Rev. Mr. GL, an eloquent and popular minis- 
ter, thinks that he and Miss cau sleep in the 

same bed in perfect innocency, because they en- 
joyed the "second- work sanctification." 

The immortal Bishop D. Edwards was a be- 
liever in the doctrine here controverted, as he un- 
derstood it. In reply to a letter of inquiry con- 



DOCTRINE OF DOUBLE-BIRTH PERFECTION. 65 

corning Mr. Edwards' latest views on the subject 
Bishop J. Weaver says : "I do not think that I know 
what Bishop Edwards' latest views were. This I 
know: Twenty years ago he preached and talked 
the doctrine of a second work strongly. For the 
last ten years of his life he did not preach it, nor 
talk it in my hearing. * * In regard to Walla 
Walla, he said that they were all fanatics. 'I 
never/ said he, 'saw such fanaticism in my life.'" 

This Walla Walla conference of ministers all 
professed the second-work sanctification. When 
Mr. Edwards visited them as their bishop, they 
prayed God in the presence of the bishop, as I 
have been credibly informed, to "sanctify the bish- 
op, or take him out of the way;" that is, kill him. 
This was long after the bishop had written a work 
entitled, "The Perfect Christian." Here, then, is 
a whole conference of ministers all swallowed up 
by fanaticism in consequence of this mixed theol- 
ogy, if we may believe the testimony of a very 
judicious man of God who once believed their 
doctrine, and possibly died in the same faith. 

Dr. J. Wesley, the noted father of this doctrine, 
found some of this same wild fruit on the tree of 
his own planting. He says: "Some have left off 
searching the Scriptures. They said, 4 God writes 
all the scripture on my heart; therefore I have 
no need to read it.' Others thought they had not 

5 



6Q TWENTY-EIGHT OBJECTIONS AGAINST THE 

so much need of hearing, and so grew slack in at- 
tending preaching. * * It has led some to 
fancy they had received gifts of a new kind, after 
a new heart, as * * oneness with God; [this day 
I heard one of this class of men in church saying, 
"I am a part of God,"] * * sitting with Christ in 
heavenly places; the being taken up into his 
throne ; the being in the new Jerusalem ; the see- 
ing the tabernacle of God come down among 
men; the being dead to all works; the not being 
liable to death, pain, grief, or temptation." (C. P., 

page 45.) 

It seems the doctor was quite unconscious of 
the fact that this fruit necessarily grows on the 
very tree he planted with his own hand, and os- 
tracised the noble, the immortal Count Zinzen- 
dorf for desiring to pull it up. We shall hear all 
about this in the "great day." 

OBJECTION 20. 

IT DIVIDES CHRISTIANS. 

• 1. I assume that the professors of second-work 
sanctifieation, as found throughout the orthodox 
churches, and comprising a moiety of them, are 
genuine Christians. 

2. That all justified persons are Christians is 
undisputed. Bishop Castle frankly says, "All re- 



DOCTRINE OF DOUBLE-BIRTH PERFECTION. 67 

generate persons are clearly Christian, and will 
so remain as long as they maintain their justifica- 
tion." (TeL,Ju. 26, 1878.) 

3. Here, then, we have a large body of Chris- 
tians comprising those who style themselves first- 
class, and those whom they style second-class 
Christians. Yet they are "all clearly Christians." 
No matter about the grade or order just now. 
Christians are the persons under consideration 
now. 

4. That they are divided by the line of "sec- 
ond-work sanctiti cation" is a fact so well known 
that it would involve an inexcusable w T aste of the 
reader's time to argue the case here. They are 
not only divided in doctrinal views, but also in 
sympathy, in feeling, in methods and means, in 
fellowship, and in practice. They do not labor 
in unison. They can not do so without a com- 
promise, — a surrender of position and principle 
on one side or the other. 

5. What divides them thus? It is not holi- 
ness. Holiness is repulsive to the careless, unre- 
generate heart, but not to the Christian. On this 
point we need no other testimony than that which 
is furnished us by these "second-work people." 

Dr. Wood says, "Justification involves a desire to 
be holy. If a man is a Christian, and in a justi- 
fied state, [all such, and none others, are Chris- 



68 TWENTY-EIGHT OBJECTIONS AGAINST THE 

tians,] he will have the heart of a child of God, 
and desire to render to him a present , fall, and un- 
reserved obedience. This is implied in the very 
nature of true religion. (P. L., page 212.) Dr. 
J. T. Peck says, "Regeneration in its lowest state 
loves holiness, and pants to be filled with it." Mr. 
Caughey says, "A hearty desire for purity is the 
brighest gem that sparkles in real [there is no un- 
real] justification. If it be genuine [there is no 
otheV] this desire is always attached to it, — as 
weight to lead, as heat to fire, as fragrance to the 
rose, as greenness to a healthy leaf,— insejiarable" 
If, then, those who are considered the lower 
order of Christians even in their "lowest state love 
holiness and pant to be filled with it," it is simply 
impossible that holiness should be repulsive to 
them, or that its advocates should be repulsive on 
account of its advocacy. Neither can they be re- 
pelled by anything which holiness induces in the 
^manners or appearances of any one. Thus it be- 
comes indisputably obvious on the testimony of 
these self-styled "holiness people," that their 
superexcellent holiness has no part nor lot in the 
matter of separating Christians. 

It remains, then, a fact beyond all doubt that 
the terrible work of division is accomplished by 
the false doctrine and its consequent spirit of caste, 
egotism, self-righteousness, fanaticism, etc. 



DOCTRINE OP DOUBLE-BIRTH PERFECTION. 69 

A doctrine which divides Christians, and has no 
other foundation but a misunderstood "experi- 
ence/ 5 can not be from God. 



OBJECTION 21. 

IT LEADS TO THE ABSURDITY THAT MORAL QUALITIES 
ARE INDIVIDUAL, PERSONAL ENTITIES. 

1. It is an indisputable fact that in every case 
of regeneration there occur both an investiture 
and a divestiture of the soul. Something comes 
in, and something goes out. God comes in and 
Satan goes out. Moral purity comes in, and moral 
turpitude goes out. 

2. But it is a fundamental principle in the sec- 
ond-work theology that moral pollution— sin — still 
remains after regeneration. If this idea were given 
up the whole "second-work" theory would cease to 
exist. If it were admitted that all moral corrup- 
tion is removed at conversion, it would follow as 
an inevitable conclusion that there is nothing left 
for "second work" to do. This concession would 
annihilate the whole system in every consistent 
mind.* 



© 



*I have conversed with five persons who admitted that their hearts 
were made pure in regeneration, thus surrendering the foundation tenet 
of the whole system ; and yet they tenaciously cling to * 'second work." 
Their reasoning must be "that it is so, because it is so, because." 



70 TWENTY-EIGHT OBJECTIONS AGAINST THE 

3. It will not do to hold that the sin which 
they say remains in the soul after conversion is a 
part or element of its nature; for this would in- 
volve an absurdity so glaring as to meet only ref- 
utation and reproof from the most ordinary 
minds. Every soul is a "partaker of the divine 
nature" at the moment of conversion. (II. Peter 
1 : 4.) "Every feature of the divine nature or im- 
age is imparted to the child of grace at regenera- 
tion." (Castle.) No being can exist with two 
antagonistic elements in its nature. Whiteness 
can not be blackness. Light can not be darkness. 
Falsehood can not be truth. Moral turpitude can 
not be moral beauty. Thought can not be sub- 
stance. Love can not be diamond. Hope can not 
be quartz. Righteousness can not be unrighteous- 
ness. Neither can two antagonistic natures co-in- 
here in each other, nor in the same substance 
more than in each other. 

* 4. It will not do to say that Satan dwells in 
the regenerate soul,— though the principles of 
their doctrine necessarily involves the idea that he 
(joes,— for then every Sunday-school scholar would 
refute them with the quotation from Paul, "What 
concord hath Christ with Belial?" seeing that it is 
agreed on all hands that Christ takes up his abode 
in the heart at conversion. 

5. Therefore if they will have sin in the heart 



DOCTRINE OF DOUBLE-BIRTH PERFECTION. 71 

after conversion, they are obliged to treat it as an 
individual, personal, physical entity. According- 
ly, Bishop Castle, commenting on Luke 8 : 14, says, 
"Here the wheat and the thorns grew together. 
They did not amalgamate ; but they grew togeth- 
er in the same soil. So good and evil may be res- 
ident in the same moral nature, and may war with 
each other for the ascendancy."* 

Sin and holiness, according to the bishop's view, 
may reside as near neighbors in the same soul ; 
"not amalgamated," but mixed. 

Dr. Wood, quoting Dr. Wesley, says, "How 
naturally do those who experience such a change 
[regeneration] suppose that all sin is gone; that 
it is utterly rooted out of their hearts, and has no 
more place in them! How easily do they draw 
the inference, 'I feel no sin; therefore I have 
none. It does not stir ; therefore it does not ex- 
ist. It has no motion ; therefore it has no being/ 
But it is seldom long before they are undeceived, 
finding that sin was only suspended, not destroy- 
ed. Temptations return, and sin revives, showing 
that it was stunned before, and not dead." (P. L., 
page 61.) 

Dr. John Weslev, in his sermon on "Sin in Be- 
lievers," replying to an objector who had quoted 
the annihilating text, "They that are Christ's have 

*See examination of 6 Scripture, under OBJECTION 24. 



v 



72 TWENTY-EIGHT OBJECTIONS AGAINST THE 

crucified the flesh with its affections and lusts" 
(Gal. 5: 24), says, "They have so; yet it remains 
in them still, and often struggles to break from 

the cross." 

When a Roman soldier was crucified, he was 
put to death. When Jesus was crucified, he was 
put to death. Hence, in the New Testament, the 
word "crucified" always means put to death. Dr. 
Wesley utterly ignores this invariable meaning of 
the term "crucified"— sets it aside, commits the 
lingual absurdity of contemplating a thing as 
living after it has been crucified, and, worst of all, 
commits the metaphysical absurdity of contem- 
plating a moral quality— the carnality of the un- 
./ regenerate soul— as a physical substance in organ- 
ized living form, susceptible of being knocked 
down, like a beast, lying "stunned, but not dead," 
or kicking and "struggling to break from the 
cross" after it has been crucified. 
- It is not only absurd, but ridiculous to contem- 
plate the picture these theologians present of the 
regenerate soul. They have the Holy One, in 
every feature of his all-glorious image; the love, 
joy, peace, and glorious hope of his great salva- 
tion ; Satan, his works, the stunned, struggling 
monster sin in all its hideous forms of pride, self- 
will, sensuality, boastful ambition, all the hidden 
abominations and hell, all within the narrow 



DOCTRINE OF DOUBLE-BIRTH PERFECTION 73 

limits of the human soul. Surely this is mixed 
theologv. Nothing can be clearer than that a 
soul iii such a condition would need a second clear- 
ing out. But it is a poor compliment, to any man's 
metaphysical capacity to say that it is broad 
enough to take in such monstrosities. From such 
compliments deliver me. I wish no one to at- 
tribute to me the mental caliber to embrace the 
idea that the King of heaven with his kingdom 
and the king of hell and his kingdom, with all its 
hidden abominations, can dwell in the human soul 
together, and that soul be in a state of. peace and 
joy at the same time. But we have clearly seen 
that just this monstrosity is embraced by the 
double-birth theology. It is a monstrosity un- 
worthy a moment's entertainment. Let it perish. 

OBJECTION 22. 

IT MISREPRESENTS THE TESTIMONY OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. 

I am fully aware that this is an awfully solemn 
accusation. We shall soon see whether it is a just 
one or not. It is an awful thing for one man to 
misrepresent another. It is more so to misrepresent 
the Holy Ghost. And in this item, as I verily be- 
lieve, the doctrine under review is a guilty party. 
Its advocates teach that the Holy Spirit speaks only 
of justification and regeneration to those who, as 



74 TWENTY-EIGHT OBJECTIONS AGAINST THE 

they claim, have obtained only the first half of 
salvation, and that he witnesses sanctification to 
those only who have obtained the second half. 
Being utterly destitute of a syllable of scriptural 
evidence, the doctrine is obliged, as we have seen, 
to rest everything on "experience." The Bible de- 
clares, and all Christians know by happy experi- 
ence, that "the Spirit itself beareth witness with 
our spirit that we are the children of God." 
(Rom. 8: 16.> And reason would demand, as 
also the very nature of the case, and the.goodness 
of God would assure, that if there were two dis- 
tinct classes of children in his family, distinguished 
by characteristics "infinitely" dissimilar, as Dr. 
Wesley represents (C. P., p. 23) the Spirit's wit- 
nessings to the individuals of the two classes 
should accord with their respective castes; for it 
would be a matter of the gravest importance to 
the soul of the lower caste that he should not 
' be deceived with the idea that all is well when 
it is not the case ; that he should know his pol- 
lution and be cleansed. 

Well, the doctors have, with the most liberal 
gratuity, provided for the emergency arising out 
of the logical demand. Dr. Wood aflirms that 
"the Holy Ghost is the witnessing Spirit. * * 
The justified soul may know and be equally 
certain by the testimony of his spirit and the 



DOCTRINE OF DOUBLE-BIRTH PERFECTION. 75 

witness of the Holy Spirit, that God has re- 
generated his nature and pardoned his sins. 
This testimony is more strong and clear than that 
of the convicted sinner. The sanctified soul may 
know with equal certainty by his spirit and the 
testimony of the Holy Spirit that God has cleansed 
his heart from all sin. This testimony is still 
more clear and strong than that of the merely 
regenerated. The inferential and corroborating 
evidences are equally as strong for the fully sanc- 
tified as in either of the other cases." (P. L., pages 
98, 99.) 

1. Evidently the doctor wishes us to understand 
that the testimony which the Spirit bears to the 
soul of his higher order of Christians differs in 
kind from that which it bears to his lower caste 
of God's children. He thinks the testimony to 
the justified soul is clearer to the fact of his regen- 
eration than it is to the sinner of his sinfulness, 
which we all know is a mistake. When a man 
feels as it his sins would send him to hell in a 
short time if relief came not very soon, he has as 
clear an evidence of it as he can have of anything. 
So we see the doctor labors under a mistaken no- 
tion in the very first step of his graded testimony. 
When we think of wicked kings (as Richard) 
unable to sleep on account of their sins; of infidels 
and atheists — as Altamont, Francis Newport, and 



76 TWENTY-EIGHT OBJECTIONS AGAINST THE 

William Pope, — suddenly cured of their unbelief 
by the burnings of remorse under the power of 
the convicting Spirit of a sin-avenging God ; when 
we see men fa % ll by scores and hundreds under the 
word of God, as grass before a sharp scythe — as at 
the great meetings in America's early history; 
when we hear thousands who are full of hot prej- 
udice against the Son of God, suddenly crying out 
under the sound of his gospel, "Men and brethren, 
what must we do?" we are forced to the con- 
clusion that the Holy Spirit makes men to know 
as well as a man can know anything that they are 
sinners on the way to certain ruin. The doctor is 
certainly mistaken in the first items, page 2, of 
his three degrees testimony. But he goes on and 
says, "This testimony [given to his higher order 
of Christians] is still more clear and strong than 
that of the merely regenerate." 

That some persons enjoy more powerful and 
thrilling manifestations of the Spirit at the mo- 
ment of conversion is true. That the same Chris- 
tian may at one time enjoy a greater baptism of 
power than at other times is also true. It was 
true of about one hundred and twenty disciples, 
iucluding the apostles, on Pentecost. Although 
they were certainly "clean through the word 
which Jesus had spoken unto them on the night of 
the betrayal, yet on the inaugural of the gospel 



DOCTRINE OF DOUBLE-BIRTH PERFECTION. 77 

on Pentecost they received a more powerful bap- 
tism of the eternal Spirit than ever before. But 
this was not to testify to them that they were a 
whit purer, a whit more sanctified, than they were 
on the night of the betrayal.* Daniel was not a 
purer child of God when, after a long, abstemious 
waiting before him he saw on the bank of the 
great river Hiddikel, the Ancient of days in his 
beauty as the three disciples afterward saw him 
on Mount Tabor, and as John saw him on Pat- 
mos with snow-white hair, countenance like light- 
ning, eyes like lamps of fire, body like the beryll, 
arms and feet like burnished brass, as if it burned 
in an oven, a golden girdle about his waist sup- 
porting a snow-white robe extending to the feet. 
Daniel was possibly a wiser man after this glorious 
vision, and inspired with higher hopes for his 
people, and brighter visions of their future glory; 
but he was none the more a pure child of the Most 

High. 

Paul was no purer after his enrapturing, unut- 
terable vision of paradise, — that is, the heaven of 
heavens, — than he was in the moment when the 
Holy One removed the scales from his eyes and 
filled his soul with love divine. John was the 
same pure-hearted, "beloved disciple" after his 
wonderful vision on Patmos, that he was on the 

*See Objection 24—11 Scripture. 



78 TWENTY-EIGHT OBJECTIONS AGAINST THE 

night of the betrayal, in the morning of his Lord's 
mock-trial, and on the golden Sabbath morning 
of the gospel's inaugural on Pentecost. So every 
Christian may from time to time obtain brighter 
glimpses of God's ineffable glory and grow wiser, 
stronger, and more useful thereby, and be the 
same pure-hearted Christian from first to last. 
Purity is purity, and, as we shall clearly see before 
we close this volume, if God permit and help, 
purity complete is what every regenerate soul pos- 
sesses; it is an essential element of the regenerate 
character. 

But for the present we invite attention to the 
misrepresentations of the Spirit's testimony to the 

regenerate soul. 

Dr. Wesley declares that the secoud work is "in- 
finitely greater" than the first work in regener- 
ation, "and of a different kind." (C. P., p. 23.) 
Dr. Wood, as we have seen, chimes in on the 
same key. Two grades of salvation, — two kinds 
indeed,— and two grades or kinds of testimony, we 
are taught by these divines to believe are brought 
to the soul by the Holy Spirit. Not a syllable of 
scripture is brought forward to support this the- 
ory ; (for the best of reasons we know, namely, 
there is none,) but we are to believe it because they 
have "experienced" it. Well, experience is cer- 
tainly good evidence when properly understood. 



DOCTRINE OF DOUBLE-BIRTH PERFECTION. 79 

But we have seen that' Bishop Castle's interpreta- 
tion of his own experience flatly contradicts God's 
word. The experience dare not be questioned; 
but their interpretation of it is what raises the 
thick fog over their eyes. 

Since then the question relative to several 
grades of testimony by the Spirit is to be settled 
by human interpretation of human experience, it 
is fair and proper to call up the witnesses on both 
sides of the case — or rather it is proper to call up 
disinterested, impartial witnesses. I am fully pre- 
pared to give the names of many unimpeachable 
witnesses in the laity and many in the gospel 
ministry, w T ho will most positively declare that 
they were by the Spirit's power and testimony 
made to believe beyond the shadow of a doubt 
that their hearts were made pure from all unright- 
eousness in the first moment of their regenerated 
life. The sainted Michael Thomas, one of the 
most carefully conscientious Christians I ever 
knew, referring to the moment of his conversion, 
in presence of two thousand hearers, said, "I 
verily believe if God had given me any more it 
would have killed me." 

I have already mentioned that at least five wit- 
nesses who were at the time believers of the sec- 
ond-work doctrine, declared to me that they "be- 
lieved their hearts were made pure in the moment 



80 TWENTY-EIGHT OBJECTIONS AGAINST THE 

of conversion." Surely their testimony will be 
acceptable with all. 

But let us look again at a statement made by 
the father of this doctrine. Surely his testimony 
will be taken by his followers. We give his 
words as quoted by Dr. Wood thus : "Mr. Wes- 
ley says, 'How naturally do those who experience 
such a change — regeneration — suppose that all sin 
is gone; that it is utterly rooted out of their 
hearts, and has no more place in them." 7 (P. L., 

p. 61.) 

In the name of common honesty, I ask how 
could thev rest in such a conclusion if it were not 
a correct one, while an honest, faithful, Holy 
Spirit is witnessing to them concerning their 
moral condition? Does the Spirit bear false tes- 
timony? The Spirit regenerates the soul, and in 
the same moment bears witness of the fact, fills 
the soul with peace and causes it, or at least per- 
mits it to believe, as the doctor declares, "that all 
sin is gone; that it is utterly rooted out of their 
hearts, and has no more place in them." Now, 
according to this correct testimony of Dr. Wes- 
ley's, one of three things is absolutely certain ; 
either 1. The soul is correct in its conclusion, and 
all sin is actually gone; or, 2. The Holy Spirit 
deceives the soul with false testimony; or, 3. The 
Holy One permits the devil to deceive his infant 



\ 



DOCTRINE OF DOUBLE-BIRTH PERFECTION. 81 

child, while with all its powers it clings to him 
for deliverance from the powers and deceptions of 
the ruthless destrover. The second and third of 
these propositions are too unreasonable and un- 
scriptural to admit for a moment. Therefore the 
first must be true. The Spirit neither deceives 
the regenerate soul nor permits Satan to deceive 
it. "We know that whosoever is born of God 
sinneth not; but he that is begotten of God keep- 
eth himself, and that wicked one toucheth him 
not." (I. John 5 : 18.) This settles the question. 
Satan can not touch him while he clings to God. 
The Holy Spirit surely never deceives. Yet Mr 
Wesley says the "regenerate soul naturally sup- 
poses that all sin is gone and utterly rooted out." 
We all know that this is just what every regener- 
ate soul believes ; and the data now before us carry 
us to the inevitable conclusion that he is not de- 
ceived, but is actually free from all sin. 

OBJECTION 23. 

THE DOCTRINE IS A CHILD OF CONTRADICTION. 

1. They differ in regard to its definitive title 
— "Double moral birth." 

1. The Highway of Holiness, a magazine un- 
der the editorial supervision of Bishop Castle, was 
much displeased with the use of the proper title 

6 



82 TWENTY-EIGHT OBJECTIONS AGAINST THE 

of their doctrine in a newspaper discussion of its 
merits. In the April number of 1879 it says, 
"He [Alwood] applies his artillery against a 
'double spiritual birth,' a 'double moral birth,' a 
'second spiritual birth,' a 'second regeneration.' 
Every one who is reasonably well versed in the 
theory of entire sanctification, as received by us, 
knows that the advocates of holiness do not up- 
hold a second birth, but a blessing after the 
birth." All Christians hold to many "blessings 

after the birth." 

But it seems that these more modern divines do 
not see this matter in the same light in which it 
was contemplated by their venerable father, Mr. 
John Wesley, and his first pupils. He, in speak- 
ing of the "second-work" sanctification, says, 
"This great gift of God, the salvation of their 
souls, is no other than the image of God stamped 
on their hearts. It is a renewal in the spirit of 
ftieir minds after the likeness of him that created 
them. God hath now laid the ax unto the root of 
the tree, purifying their hearts by faith* and 
cleansing all the thoughts of their hearts by the 
inspiration of his Holy Spirit. Having this hope 
'that they shall see God as he is, they purify them- 
selves as he is pure, and are holy, as he that hath 

• — i ■ ■■■' ' •* 

*In his sermon on "Sin in Believers," he tells us this is done in re- 
generation. 



DOCTRINE OF DOUBLE-BIRTH PERFECTION. 83 

called them is holy in all manner of conversation. 
* * * The Son hath made them free who are 
thus born of God from that great root of bitter- 
ness — pride." (C. P., pages 7, 8.) Thus it appears 
that the doctor thought it requires a second moral 
birth to deliver the soul from "that great root of 
bitterness — pride." "Born of God from that great 
root," &c. On the tenth page of this same work 
he tells us that the regenerate soul "sees in him- 
self all the hidden abominations, pride, self-will, 
and hell." On the eighth page he shows us that 
this pride which could not be removed by the first 
moral birth is removed at last by a birth "born of 
God from that great root of bitterness — pride." 

Dr. Fletcher, a pupil of Dr. Wesley's, quoting 
his teacher, says, "And when the Lamb of God 
has brought forth his own meekness, &c, in our 
souls, then are our lamps trimmed and our virgin 
hearts made ready for the marriage-feast. This 
marriage-feast signifies the entrance into the 
highest state of union that can be between God 
and the soul in this life. This birthday of the 
spirit of love in our souls, whenever we attain, 
will feast our souls with such peace and J03 7 in 
God as will blot out the remembrance of every- 
thing that we called peace or joy before." (Chris. 
Per. Def. Sec. II.) 

"This birthday of the spirit of love in our 



84 TWENTY-EIGHT OBJECTIONS AGAINST THE 

hearts blots out the remembrance of everything 
that we called peace or joy before." 

So those earlier doctors looked at it. They 
called it a birth, and the day of its occurrence a 
"birthday." They thought we must be born again 
and again. Jesus taught, u Ye must be born 
again to enter the kingdom of heaven." But 
these doctors require a repetition of the moral 
birth to fit one for the glory-world. And these 
modern doctors hold precisely the same thing, all 
but the name. They see too well the strategic 
value of a correct, definitive name of the doc- 
trine, and therefore suppress the natural offspring 
of their tenets ; and when closely cornered and 
driven to the wall, they call it "a blessing after the 
birth." That would be a very great blessing in- 
deed which would "blot out the remembrance of 
everything that we called peace or joy before," 
when that former peace is by Isaiah called "per- 
fectpeaee" (Isa. 26: 3) and the joy is called by Paul 
such as fills the soul when it has the assurance of 
a title to heaven. (Rom. 5: 2; 8: 17.) 

Dr. Wesley called it a blessing "of a different 
kind and infinitely greater than any before." (C, 
P. p. 23.) According to this the first birth 
amounts to simply nothing. Now we see that there 
is abundant reason in the nature of the case and 
abundant authority of the highest "second- work" 



DOCTRINE OF DOUBLE-BIRTH PERFECTION. 85 

kind for using the definitive name "double moral 
birth'' in speaking of this doctrine. The younger 
doctors should s:udy well their system before they 
scold others for the use of explicit terms in speak- 
ing of it, and before they take positions in deadly 
antagonism to their own pet system. 

2. Contradiction. On Consecration. 

1. Some of these doctors say that the consecra- 
tion prerequisite to the second moral birth is quite 
different, in extent at least, to that required be- 
fore conversion, while others say it must be per- 
fect before conversion; and they all hold positions 
that would require unreserved consecration. 

Bishop Castle in answering the question, "Can 
a man obtain the pardon of his sins without a full 
and complete surrender to God?" says: 

"If by the word surrender is meant consecration, 
I answer yes, for consecration proper belongs to a 
later and more enlightened stage of grace." 

Here the position is definitely taken that a sin- 
ner may obtain pardon without consecration. 
This is an awful position for a gospel minister to 
take in the hearing of sinners, teaching them that 
they can obtain full* pardon and stand justified in 
the sight of God while clinging to their idols. 
But the bishop was obliged to take this position 
or surrender his doctrine; for if he had acknowl- 



86 TWENTY-EIGHT OBJECTIONS AGAINST THE 

edo-ed the necessity of a full consecration prior to 
justification he would have been utterly unable to 
show what further the sinner could afterward do 
to obtain sanctification. Then he would have to 
concede that sanctification is obtained at the mo- 
ment of justification, or else take the position that 
it is afterward unconditionally obtained * No one 
can consecrate more than all; and if it were con- 
ceded that all must be consecrated to obtain justi- 
fication, there would be nothing left to consecrate 
for "second work." Then the second-work theory 
would perish. And this would involve too heavy 
a loss for these theologians. The doctors and 
their theories must live if everything else per- 
ishes. 

Professor Thomas C. Upham, author of three 
volumes on the second-work theology — more 
than thirteen hundred pages,— in giving direc- 
tions to the seeker of sanctification, assuming that 
justification is obtained without a complete con- 
secration, says, "Such a consecration, therefore, 
extending to all that we are and all that we have, 
is necesssry. We are not speaking now of per- 
sons who are in the deadness of unconversion. 
We are speaking of Christians, of persons in a 
justified state, whose dead wills have been par- 

*Aa we shall see, Dr. Wesley runs into this position to provide for 
numerous cases. 



D0CT1UNE OF DOUBLE-BIRTH PERFECTION. 87 

tially quickened by the Holy Ghost, and who cer- 
tainly can do something in this way. Such a 
consecration., therefore, made with the whole soul 
and for all coming time is necessary. And it is 
so, first, because we can have no available faith in 
the promises of God without it.* It is a great 
complaint in the Christian at the present day, that 
there is a want of faith. If we may take the 
statements of Christians themselves, they do not 
believe]-— certainly not as they should do. And 
why is it? It is because they have not fully con- 
secrated themselves to God. In other words, 
they continue to indulge in some known sins. 
Such are the laws of the mind that they can not 
have full f faith in God as a friend and father to 
them, so long as they are conscious of voluntarily 
fsinning against him." (Interior Life, pages 
28, 29.) 

These remarks nicely apply to the common sin- 
ner, but the pious professor carefully notifies us 
that he applies them to the Christian. It seems 
to me a gross misrepresentation of our holy Chris- 
tianity, this "great salvation,'' and its great and 
holy Author, to say that a man with partial faith, 
partial consecration, and "sinful in thought, word, 

*And yet he assumes that the sinner's faith was "available" and 
availing in obtaining pardon. 

tUnbelieving, half-consecrated, sinful Christians! Yet children of 
(rod and heirs of heaven ! 



88 TWENTY-EIGHT OBJECTIONS AGAINST THE 

and deed," as Bishop Castle has it, "indulging in 
some known sins," as the professor has it, can be 
a Christian, a regenerated child of God. Here we 
see clearly the gross principles necessarily involved 
in this double-birth theory— partial faith, partial 
consecration, and partial deliverance from sin. 
No marvel that Bishop Castle, holding such views, 
should, in the frankness of his good heart, call 
such a being "half sinner and half Christian." 
Such is this mixed theology we are reviewing. 

Jesus said, "No servant can serve two masters." 
But these doctors know better. They show us 
that a man can be a partial servant of God — even 
his child — and a partial servant and child of the 
devil at the same moment. "Whosoever commit- 
teth sin is of the devil." Should not such a the- 
ory be called mixed theology? Certainly it is 
mixed. 

Well, as we have just now seen, Bishop Castle 
-and Professor Upbam precisely agree that a man 
can become a Christian on partial consecration, 
and continue to be a Christian and a sinner at the 
same time. Partial consecration necessarily in- 
volves the idea of partial faith ; for consecration is 
trust, and partial trust is the cause of, or rather is 
partial consecration. The professor avows belief 
in the idea of justification on partial faith ; and 
the bishop avows it indirectly by avowing belief 



DOCTRINE OF DOUBLE-BIRTH PERFECTION. 89 

in justification on the entire absence of what he 
calls consecration. Thus they harmonize on the 
position that a man can be an unbelieving, par- 
tially consecrated, sinful Christian.* They also 
agree in contradicting themselves on this same 
point, as we shall see; and they are both contra- 
dicted by another valuable author of their own 
school, namely, Jacob Hoke, Esq. In the High- 
way of Holiness of Nov., 1879, Mr. Hoke says, 
"Consecration is but the unconditional and unre- 
served surrender of the entire being to God." Here 
is a sterling definition. It can not be improved. 
In the same article Mr. Hoke further says, "What 
is the difference between consecration for justifica- 
tion and consecration for entire sanctification ? 
Consecration in both cases and in all cases must 
be complete and entire, or it is no consecration at 
all." 

Here is sterling truth tersely stated. "Conse- 
cration for justification, and consecration for en- 
tire sanctification, in both and in all cases must 
be complete and entire, or it is no consecration at 
all." But Mr. Hoke overlooked the fact that when 
he wrote these words he made a clean and com- 
plete surrender of a foundation-principle in the 
"second-work" theory ; for if the sinner must 
make "an unconditional and unreserved surrender 



*See Castle's answers in Telescope* of May 28 and June 19 r 1878. 



90 TWENTY-EIGHT OBJECTIONS AGAINST THE 

of his entire being to God," in order to obtain 
justification, then there is surely nothing left to 
surrender or consecrate, in order to obtain a sec- 
ond work. Moreover, if such a surrender is the 
only prerequisite condition to entire sanctification, 
and this must be made to obtain justification, then 
where is the mind in the universe of God that can 
explain why they are not both obtained at once? 
There is none that can explain. It is astonishing 
that Mr. Hoke did not see this, and drop the ab- 
surd system. He makes God the author of du- 
plicity. (See again Objection 9.) 

As to partial faith Mr. Hoke, in a letter before 
me dated January 31, 1880, says, "In regard to 
the question, Can a soul obtain pardon, justifica- 
tion, on partial faithV I answer, No. Faith in 
every case must be full and perfect, or it is not 

faith at all." 

Dr. D. Steel (February 21, 1880,) says, "I do not 
* know what partial faith is. * * * The peni- 
tent who has faith enough in Christ to trust in 
him and him only, will be pardoned. The soui 
that consciously withholds anything from God 
can not exercise saving faith. 5 ' Thus the doctor 
holds to a perfect faith and a perfect consecration 
in order to obtain pardon. Yet he holds to "sec- 
ond work." 

Dr. J. A. Wood, in harmony with Mr. Hoke 



DOCTRINE OF DOUBLE-BIRTH PERFECTION, 91 

and T>r. Steel, says, "The consecration previous to 
conversion and that previous to entire sanctifica- 
tion, are essentially the same, both involving com- 
plete submission to God up to the present light of 
the soul." (P. L., p. 83.) 

Well/the angel Gabriel can do no better. Paul 
says, "It there be first a willing mind, it is accepted 
according to that a man hath, and not according 
to that he hath not." (II. Cor. 8: 12.) Jesus 
says, "Where little is given little is required." 
The widow's two mites of brass money were great- 
er in the Lord's treasury than the millions thrown 
in by the wealthy. "The Lord looketh at the 
heart." He considers the heart-sacrifice. Her 
heart sacrificed all that she possessed. None of 
the others did this. If any one threw in a hun- 
dred millions and had two pieces left he fell short 
of the widow's heart-sacrifice. She handed over 
all. That left none. So God requires every soul 
to place all on the altar of God's service, to be 
used as he may direct. This leaves nothing for 
mere self-gratification. "Whatsoever ye do, do 
all to the glory of God." (I, Cor. 10 : 31.) 

Nothing short of complete, unreserved surren- 
der will bring pardon to the soul; and to this we 
will now have the testimony of Bishop Castle and 
Professor Upharn, according to promise on a pre- 
ceding page. 



92 TWENTY-EIGHT OBJECTIONS AGAINST THE 

The bishop says, "There can be no reconcilia- 
tion between parties at variance, 'no extending of 
clemency from God to man, until the latter grounds 
his arms. For what does he surrender, pardon? 
Then of course he must cease his rebellion. * * 
To obtain pardon the sinner must, as already in- 
dicated, cease from his rebellion and possess the 
spirit of full and complete loyalty to the govern- 
ment under which he now seeks happiness and 
protection. * * * No one can secure pardon 

A. 

but by a fixed purpose to abandon all sin." (Tel., 
May 28, 1878.) 

This is explicit. The sinner must make a full 
and complete "surrender, ground his arms, aban- 
don all sin, and possess the spirit of full and com- 
plete loyalty to the government under which he 
now seeks happiness and protection, before he can 
have pardon." This is the plain truth plainly 
stated. It sounds just like Mr. Hoke's definition 
*of "consecration," which he says "is but the un- 
conditional and unreserved surrender of the entire 
being to God." 

Professor Upham says, "There is one leading 
idea which is common to both; [justification and 
sanctification] we mean the idea or principle of 
entire submission. In both cases, impressed with 
a sense of our own unworthiness and nothingness, 
we must be sincerely willing in the spirit of entire 



DOCTRINE OF DOUBLE-BIRTH PERFECTION. 93 

submissiveness to receive all from God, and must 
receive it also instrumeutally in the same way; 
namely, by faith." (Interior Life, p. 169.) 

So we see that though these authors — Castle 
and Upham on one side, and Hoke, Steel, and 
Wood on the other, — contradict one another at 
first, yet they after all come together and harmo- 
nize in a complete surrender of a fundamental 
principle of their "second-work" theology. They 
agree that the only conditions of sanctification, 
namely, surrender and trust, are indispensable 
conditions of justification. And this leaves no 
additional condition to be met in order to obtain 
an additional work. Nor does it leave room for 
any reason why full salvation should not be granted 
at the same moment with justification. 

3. Contradiction. On the dominion of sin over 

the justified soul. 

Nothing is more common in the literature of 
the "second- work" theology than expressions in- 
dicating the idea that "merely regenerate" souls 
are full of sin and under the dominion of sin. 
Such expressions are found in their experiences 
and biographies with scarcely an exception. Their 
newspaper and magazine articles, their essays, and 
their reports of "holiness meetings," abound with 



94 TWENTY-EIGHT OBJECTIONS AGxilKST THE 

them. They seem to be in possession of a stereo- 
typed opinion that all "merely justified," "merely 
regenerate persons," as they are pleased to call all 
who have not professed the double birth, are yet 
under the dominion of sin. And yet their highest 
authorities, when busied with some other point, 
and in fear of some scripture like that in John's 
first epistle, 3: 9,— "Whosoever is born of God 
doth not commit sin,"— furnish us with diametrical 
contradictions of this opinion. Let us have some 
of their unequivocal testimonies on each side of 
this important question, 

FIRST THE AFFIRMATIVE WITNESSES. 

Professor Upham has already been heard say- 
ing, "We are speaking of Christians, of persons in 
a justified state. * * * They continue to in- 
dulge in some known sins." (In. L. pages 28, 29.) 
* Mr. Hoke says, "What is the difference between 
the conviction of a sinner for sin, and the convic- 
tion of a believer for heart-purity ? The convict- 
ed sinner trembles under condemnation and the 
conscious, impending wrath of God. The believer 
convicted for heart-purity is perplexed and grieved 
because of the existence in his heart of principles 
which tend to evil, as to pride, self-will, covetous- 
ness, evil speaking, impure imagination, etc.; and 



DOCTRINE OF DOUBLE-BIRTII PERFECTION. 95 

also ["the existence in heart"] of a power from 
which he can not escape, which prevents him 
from doing many things which he desires to do, 
and compels him to do man} 7, tilings which he 
would not do." {Highway of Holiness, November, 
1879. 

Surely such a person is under the dominion of 
sin. A power from which he can not escape, 
which prevents him from doing good acts and 
compels him to do bad ones, is surely an enslav- 
ing power. Mark, it does not rest with the con- 
trol of affections, thoughts, and desires. It con- 
trols actions. It restrains from duty, and irresist- 
ably impels to crime. Such is Mr. Hoke's picture 
of a Christian of the lower order. He is a slave 
to sin; sin inside and sin outside, "inbred and 
overt" — a slave to sin with a joint title with 
Jesus Christ to a mansion in glory. Rev. John 
Harden, in Highway of Holiness, August, 1879, 
says, "Pardon secures a title to a mansion in 
heaven." So it certainly does, as Paul declares, 
"If children, then heirs; heirs of God and joint- 
heirs with Christ." (Rom. 8: 17.) But the puz- 
zle is about these slaves of sin being where they 
are said to have a right to be. If a slave of sin, 
or anybody else, has a right to be in heaven, would 
it not be wrong to bar them out? Certainly. 
And if they were in, what kind of a heaven would 



96 TWENTY-EIGHT OBJECTIONS AGAINST THE 

it soon be? But so goes the mixed theology. I 
believe heaven is pure, and none but the pure 
have a title to it. God's ways and arrangements 
are equal and harmonious. But we must hear 
more of these witnesses. 

Mr, Wesley tells us of some at London who pro- 
fessed entire sanctifieation, but who, he thinks, 
were mistaken ; yet he regards them as justified 
Christians. He says, "But some who have much 
love, peace, and joy, yet have not the direct wit- 
ness.* And others who think they have are nev- 
ertheless manifestly wanting in the fruity But 
some are undoubtedly wanting in long-suffering 
and Christian resignation. They do not see the 

hand of God in whatever occurs, and cheerfully 
embrace it. They do not iu everything give 
thanks and rejoice evermore. They are not hap- 
py — at least not always happy; for sometimes 
they complain. They say, this or that is hard. 

"Some are wanting in gentleness. They resist 
evil instead of turning the other cheek. They do 
not receive reproach with gentleness. No; nor 
even reproof. Nay, they are not able to bear con- 
tradiction without the appearance at least of re- 
sentment. If they are reproved or contradicted, 

*"He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself." 
(I. John 5: 10.) 

t"The fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and 
truth." (Eph, 5: 9.) 



DOCTRINE OF DOUBLE-BIRTH PERFECTION. 97 

though mildly, they do not take it well, but be- 
have with more distance and reserve than they 
did before. If they are reproved or contradicted 
harshly they answer it with harshness, with a 
loud voice, or with an angry tone, or in a sharp or 
surly manner. They speak sharply or roughly 
when they reprove others, and behave roughly to 
their inferiors. 

"Some are wanting in goodness* They are not 
kind, mild, sweet, amiable, soft, and loving at all 
times, in their spirit, in their words, in their looks 
and air in the whole tenor of their behavior; and 
that to all, high and low, rich and poor, without 
respect of persons, particularly to them that are 
out of the way, to opposers, and those out of their 
own household. They do not long, study, and 
endeavor by every means to make all about them 
happy. They can see them uneasy and not be 
concerned, — perhaps they make them so, — and 
then wipe their mouths and say, 'Why, they de- 
serve it. It is their own fault.' 

"Some are wanting in fidelity , a nice regard to 
truth, simplicity, and godly sincerity. Their love 
is hardly without dissimulation — something like 
guile is found in their mouth. They are smooth 
to an excess, so as scarce to avoid a degree of 
fawning, or of seeming to mean what they do not. 

*Seie Eph. 5: 9. All Christians have the Spirit. 

7 



98 TWENTY-EIGHT OBJECTIONS AGAINST THE 

"Some are wanting in meekness, quietness of 
spirit, composure, evenness of temper. They are 
up and down, sometimes high and sometimes low; 
their mind is not well balanced. Their affections 
are either not in due proportion— they have too 
much of one, too little of another; or they are not 
duly mixed and tempered together, so as to coun- 
terpoise each other. Hence there is often a jar. 
Their soul is out of tune, and can not make the 

true harmony. 

"Some are wanting in temperance" (C. P., pages 
41, 42.) Paul declares, "The fruit of the Spirit is 
love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, good- 
ness, faith, [fidelity, truthfulness,] meekness, tem- 
perance." (Gal. 5: 22,23.) 

But Mr. Wesley's matter-of-fact picture of what 
he calls justified Christians is, by his own testi- 
mony, wanting in every item of the fruit of the 
Spirit. But it is admitted on all hands that the 
-Spirit dwells in every Christian. Hence we must 
conclude that his lower class of Christians were 
simply backsliders— if they ever were born again. 
Thev were under the dominion of sin, destitute of 
of the invariable graces of the Spirit, revengeful, 
morose, surly, unkind, ["the fruit of the Spirit is 
in all goodness and righteousness and truth,"] un- 
truthful, intemperate. This is a picture of Chris- 
tian character, such as no inspired writer ever 



DOCTRINE OF DOUBLE-BIRTH PERFECTION. 99 

drew. But it is the "second-work" picture. The 
witness — the eminent witness of all second-work 
witnesses — is before us. His testimony on this 
point is all we are after just now. We have it; 
let us call another witness on the stand. 

Bishop Castle says, "So good and evil may be 
resident in the same moral nature. * * * The 
spirit that dwelleth in us 1 usteth to envy. * * * 
The lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes, and 
the pride of life is not of the Father, but is of the 
world. Is there no seeking of fleshly gratification, 
no sensual and impure desires, no love of parade, 
gaudy dress and costly decoration among Chris- 
tian people, no seeking of honorable distinc- 
tions and loud boastings of office and position 
among Christian men and even ministers of the 
word? Whence do these come but from the im- 
purity that yet reigns within? Indeed, this is so 
apparent that to pause for reasoning upon it is but 
to contradict a judgment that has ripened into 
unquestioned certainty." (Tel, June 19, 1878.) 

Here the bishop unequivocally teaches us that 
lasciviousness, pride, envy, worldly ambition and 
bombast are perfectly compatible with the Chris- 
tian character — the regenerate state. The Chris- 
tian is in the justified state. Then, of course, all 
that is iu him is justified. Then it would follow 
from the bishop's picture that God justifies lasciv- 



100 TWENTY-EIGHT OBJECTIONS AGAINST THE 

iousness, pride, envy, worldly ambition and bom- 
bast. We know that God condemns all these.' 
Hence we know they are not elements in the Chris- 
tian character; nor can he be a Christian in whom 
they reign. Yet the bishop calls him a Christian 
in whom "impurity reigns." Where impurity 
reigns Christ can not reign at the same time. 
This is as evident as that two and two are four. 
But Christ reigns in the hearts of all his children; 
therefore impurity can not reign there. 

But we have seen that the bishop believes that 
the whole church at Corinth consisted of carnal 
Christians. He says, "The apostle would say that 
they were sinful in thought, in word, and in deed." 

Tel, June 19, 1878. 

We have seen that he puts himself in the same 
category in relating his own experience, saying, "I 
felt that in a certain sense I had been crucified 
with Christ, but still the body of this death seem- 
ed yet to cling to me. The form of that old life 
incumbered and sometimes enslaved me. * * 
I felt myself carnal, sold under sin. For that 
which I allowed not that I did; and what I would 

do that I did not." 

This language makes out a very decided case 
of bondage, a soul under the dominion of sin. No 
control of his own moral nature. It was under 
the dominion of the enemy of all righteousness. 



DOCTRINE OF DOUBLE-BIRTH PERFECTION. 191 

Yet he thinks he was a Christian, enjoying a title 
to heaven, a child of God and justified in his car- 
nal slavery to sin. "The carnal mind is enmity • 
against God." But the bishop thinks this enmity 
against the holy One is no bar to Ids justifying 
mercy. He borrows language employed by Paul 
in Rom. 7 : 14-25, to describe the helpless bond- 
age of the sinner in his unregenerate state, to pict- 
ure his own case, erroneously supposing Paul was 
picturing his own condition after conversion and 
prior to sanctification. This is, as we shall see* 
from very high "second-work" authority, a grave 
mistake into which opposite extremists have fallen. 
A misinterpretation of that chapter — over which 
so many divines have so shamefully slandered the 
holy apostle — assisted the bishop's imagination in 
coloring his own case and placing it in the wrong 
catalogue. He ought to have given more ear- 
nest heed to the language of tbat apostle when 
defining the carnal mind in the seventh verse of 
the next chapter; then would he have clearly seen 
that a man can not be a child of God, a Christian 
in any sense, and in possession of the carnal mind. 
"The carnal mind is enmity against God : for it is 
not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can 
be." Such is Paul's unequivocal testimony. Yet 
the bishop thinks he was "carnal, sold under 

*See Objection 24—1 Scripture. 



102 TWENTY-EIGHT OBJECTIONS AGAINST THE 

SIN," and "DELIGHTED IN THE LAW OF GOD," all in 

the same moment. Careful attention to Paul's 
consistency would have shown him that such a 
moral state can not exist any more than a corrupt 
tree can bring forth good fruit. The thing is sim- 
ply impossible. No, not the "thing;" for there is 
no such "thing;" nor can there be such a thing. 
The terms of the phrase, "a carnal mind delighting 
in the law of God," express an impossibility. A 
mind in harmony with and in enmity against God 
at the same moment can not exist. God can no 
more put up such a constitution than he can be— as 
he is— the embodiment of all moral beauty and in- 
expressible loveliness and Satan at the same time. 
Men ought to be careful, especially public teach- 
ers, how they throw out ideas which impeach the 
consistency of God's holy word, caricature the 
laws of mind, and set aside all consistency of 

thought. 

"Carnal, sold under sin," yet "delighting in 

THE LAW OF GOD ALL THIS TIME;" that is to Say, "A 

slave to Satan and sin, loving God's law and hat- 
ing HIS PERSON AND LAW ALL AT ONCE. A CHILD OF 

God on the way to heaven, and a child of the 

DEVIL, FULL OF ABOMINATIONS, PRIDE, LASCIVIOUSNESS, 

envy, ambition, and hell all at once," are the ab- 
surdities embraced by all who embrace this double- 
birth system. All who hold that a man can be a 



DOCTRINE OP DOUBLE-BIRTH PERFECTION. 103 

Christian and polluted with the carnal mind hold 
to these absurdities, and are against God's holy 

word. 

But we must hear yet one more witness on the 
affirmative side of the question, "Does sin hold 
dominion over the justified soul? " and then pro- 
ceed to see how many of them we can get to tes- 
tify on the negative side. Possibly we shall be 
able to coax them all over to testify against them- 
selves. Let us now hear Dr. J. A. Wood. In 
giving his experience in his work on "Perfect 
Love" he says, "During the first five or six years 
of my experience I was often perplexed and dis- 
tressed with doubts in regard to the reality of my 
conversion, arising from the fact that I could not 
fix upon the precise time when the change was 
wrought. * * * * I was often conscious of the 
deep-rooted inward evils* and tendencies in my 
heart unfriendly to godliness. I found my bosom 
foes troubled me more than all my foes from with- 
out. They struggled for the ascendency. They 
marred my peace.f They obscured my spiritual 
vision.^ They were the instruments of sore 
temptation. They crippled my efforts to do good. 
They invariably sided with Satan. They occupied 



*A11 those should speedily get § 'the second" or the first work. 
tSee Isaiah 26: 3; Rom. 5: 1. 
% L John 1: 6. 



104 TWENTY-EIGHT OBJECTIONS AGAINST THE 

a place in my heart which I knew should be pos- 
sessed by the Holy Spirit. They were the great- 
est obstacles to my growth in grace, and rendered 
my service to God but partial: I was often more 
strongly convicted of my need of inward purity 
than I ever had been of my need of pardon. God 
often showed me the importance and necessity of 
holiness as clear as a sunbeam. I seldom studied 
the Bible without conviction of my fault in not 
coming up to the Scripture standard of salvation. 
I often commenced seeking holiness, but at no time 
made any great progress, for as I read and prayed 
some duty was seen to present itself which I was 
unwilling to perform, and so I relapsed into indif- 
ference. *' *■ I became somewhat prejudiced 
against even the Bible terms "samtifecation" "ho- 
liness" "perfection" and disliked very much to 
hear persons use them in speaking of their expe- 
rience. *.- * I felt disposed to discourage and 
.oppose direct efforts for the promotion of holi- 
ness.* If a pious brother exhorted the preachers 
to seek sanctification, or the members to put away 
worldliness, tobacco, and gaudy attire, and seek 
holiness, I was distressed in spirit and disposed to 
find fault. * * * " In May, 1858, I was ap- 
pointed to the Court-Street Church, Binghampton. 

*A preacher opposing holiness! Shocking! No wonder conscience 
distressed him. 



DOCTRINE OF DOUBLE-BIRTH PERFECTION. 105 

I went there much prejudiced against the profes^- 
sion of holiness* in that church, and they were, 
doubtless, somewhat prejudiced against me, as 
they had cause to believe that I might oppose 
them on the subject of holiness. -.*•.**•£ God 
only knew the severe struggles I had that long 
summer, during many hours of which I lay on my 
face in my study, begging for Jesus to cleanse my 
poor, unsanctified heart; and yet I felt unwilling 
to make a public avowal of my feelings, or to ask 
the prayer of G-od's people for my sanctification.f 
* * * The Lord had so humbled my heart 
that I was willing to do almost anything to ob- 
tain relief. After a few moments' reflection. I re- 
plied, 'Immediately after preaching I will appoint 
a meeting in this tent on the subject of holiness, 
and will ask the prayers of the church for my own 
soul.' The Rubicon w r as passed. In an instant I 
felt a giving away in my heart, so sensible and 
powerful that it appeared rather physical than 
spiritual. In a moment after I felt an indescriba- 
ble sweetness permeating my entire being. * * 
And let me here say, that a willingness to hum- 
blef myself and take a decided stand for holiness, 



*" Died, all but dreary, solitary pride. 
* * * * :;-. * * * * p oor m an ! 

Ashamed to ask, and yet he needed help." 

"God resisteth the proud. " (Jas. 4: 6.) 

t* 4 But giveth grace to the humble. " (James 4: 6.) 



106 TWENTY-EIGHT OBJECTIONS AGAINST THE 

and face opposition to it in the church, and take 
the odium of being a professor of holiness in Bing- 
hampton, where that doctrine had been trailing 
in the dust for years, constituted the turning-point 
with me. After I reached that point I seemed to 
have no special consciousness of believing, or sub- 
mitting, or making any effort; my whole being 
seemed simply and without effort to be borne 
away to Jesus." (Pages 295-305.) 

No doubt "borne away to Jesus ;" for Jesus is 
certainly at a great moral distance from every soul 
in the moral condition the doctor's pen has clearly 
represented him. According to his own state- 
ments, he was a proud, stubborn opposer of holi- 
ness, living consciously in a state of moral impu- 
rity for a long time, and was daily reproved by the 
word of God and his own conscience. "If our 
heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart, 
and knoweth all things." (I. John 3:20.) He 
.says, "I often commenced seeking holiness, but at 
no time made any great progress; for, as I read 
and prayed, some duty was seen to present itself 
which I was unwilling to perform, and so I re- 
lapsed into indifference." Here was a will stub- 
bornly fixed against known duty. Nothing 
can be more evident. And yet the doctor wishes 
us to believe that he was a Christian all this while, 
a justified child of God, on his way to heaven 



DOCTRINE OF DOUBLE-BIRTH PERFECTION. 107 

and yet refusing to do what he knew God wanted 
him to do, thus walking not in the strait way 
of self-denial, but in the broad road of self-grati- 
fication, pride, self-will, and destruction. He 
closed his eyes in careless indifference to his moral 
state. No man can do this in innocence. It is 
a crime against himself and his God. 

"My inward foes," he says, "interrupted my 
communion with God. They ivariably sided with 
Satan.". His heart did not commune with God, 
but with Satan. A fearful caricature of the 
Christian heart! God rejected and Satan embrac- 
ed ! "No servant can serve two masters." 

"They ["bosom foes"] occupied a place in my 
heart which I knew should be possessed by the 
Holy Spirit." The Holy Spirit was crowded out; 
and he knew the enemy of souls was in possession; 
knew it was wrong for him to remain so ; knew it 
well enough to become exceedingly troubled about 
it, and seek for a different state, till a neglected 
duty would stare him in the face, an idol would be 
exposed to view, then stubbornness and pride would 
assert themselves, and he would close his eyes and 
ears against duty and the holy truth and Spirit 
which had quickened his apprehension, and so 
eettle back into stolid indifference. He tells 
the story himself, and doubtlessless truthfully. 
He should not blame his readers for believing his 



108 TWENTY-EIGHT OBJECTIONS AGAINST THE 

words and taking them according to their import. 
It is the same old "second-work" story, represent- 
ing carnality for Christianity, while every reader 
of common understanding, and not under a the- 
ological fog, can see that God's holy word places 
them as far apart as God and Satan, and as light 
and darkness. As soon as the doctor repudiated 
his pride it came to pass in his case, as in all 
cases of conversion, that Christ and his soul had 
an instantaneous meeting and a heavenly com- 
munion. The doctor is a sufficient witness in the 
case. All the objection that can reasonably be 
offered to the whole experience is that he does not 
properly catalogue his moral state prior to the 
moment when he thrust away the stubborn pride 
from his heart, became honest with himself and 
his God, and was saved by a gracious Redeemer. 
Pride is always hateful to God, and utterly incom- 
patible with the regenerate state. No soul can 
stand justified before God while clinging, as the 
doctor did, to a position which it believes to be 
morally wrong. God invariably condemns the 
soul which condemns itself. 

Now, we have before us the testimony of Up- 
ham, Wesley, Castle, Hoke, and Wood, affirming 
that sin holds dominion over the justified soul- 
over the Christian. 

Let us now hear some of these divines on the 



DOCTRINE OF DOUBLE-BIRTH PERFECTION. 109 

negative of this question. Let us begin with Dr. 
Wood, as he is yet before us on the "witness- 
stand"— and this class of theologians are specially 

fond of that stand. 

Dr. Wood says, "The conditions of receiving 
justification and regeneration are the conditions 
of retaining them. 'As ye have received Christ 
Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him.' Christ is re- 
ceived by complete submission and present, sim- 
ple, naked faith. Conscious confidence and con- 
scious guilt can not exest in the same heart at the 
same time. * * Justification can not be re- 
tained one hour with any less submission, conse- 
cration, and faith than that by which it was 
obtained. * * There must be a continued 
obedience to all the known will of God * if we 
would retain a justified state; for 'he that com- 
mitted sin is of the devil,' and, 'whosoever is 
born of God doth not commit sin.' " (P. L., pages 

25, 26.) 

This is very clear testimony on the negative of 
the question before us, and, of course, against his 
former testimony. In that he showed us that he 
closed his eyes against duties which were made 
plain by reading God's word and prayer. Yet he 
wished us to understand that he was a justified 

*Then it will not do to close our eyes against duty, and sink back into 
indifference, as he did. 



110 TWENTY-EIGHT OBJECTIONS AGAINST THE 

Christian all the while. Now he tells us, "There 
must be a continued obedience to all the known 
will of God, if we would retain a justified state." 

Dr. Watson says, "In this regenerate state the 
former corruptions of the heart * * are not even 
his inward habit, and have no dominion" 

Dr. L. Lee says, "The power of sin is broken, 
the tyrant is dethroned, and his reign ceases in the 
soul at the moment of regeneration. * * The 
moment he does what he knows to be a sin, or 
neglects what he knows to be a duty, faith, by 
which he is justified, lets go its hold upon Christ, 
and he loses his justification. * * The will is 
right at the moment of regeneration ; and it must 
remain right, or willful sin will be the result, and 
justification will be lost." 

Mr. Hoke says, "Whatis the difference bet ween 
consecration for justification and consecration for 
entire sanctification ? Consecration in both cases, 
and in all cases, must be complete and entire, or 
it is not consecration at all." {Highway of Holi- 
ness, Nov. , 1879.) We all know that sin has no 
dominion over the soul which is in a state of com- 
plete consecration to God. Mr. Hoke says it 
must be in this state in order to obtain regenera- 
tion. Thus it follows from his latest testimony 
that sin can have no dominion over the regenerate 
soul. But this diflers very materially from his 



DOCTRINE OF DOUBLE-BIRTH PERFECTION. Ill 

testimony on the affirmative of this question, in 
which he told us of "a power" existing in the 
heart of "the believer" from which he can not 
escape, which prevents him from doing many 
things which he desires to do, and compels him to 
do many things which he would not do. 

Professor Upham says, "In both cases [regen- 
eration and sanctification], impressed with a sense 
of our own unworthiness and nothingness, we 
must be sincerely willing, in the spirit of entire 
submissiveness, to receive all from God, and must 
receive it also instrumentally in the same way; 
namely, by faith. (Interior Life, page 169.) 

Where there is entire submissiveness and faith 
in God there can be no rebellion against him, no 
"continuing to indulge in known sins," as the 
professor had it in his former testimony, and con- 
sequently no dominion of sin over the soul. All 
agree that entire submission to God, trusting all 
iu his hands, is utterly incompatible with the do- 
minion of sin in the soul. They can not exist 
together. Hence the professor's latter testimony 
conflicts with his former. 

Bishop Castle says, "All regenerate persons are 
clearly Christians, and will so remain as long 
as they maintain their justification. When 
that is lost they cease to be Christians. Some 

PERSONS SEEM TO THINK THAT A STATE OF JUSTIFICA- 
TION allows of sinning." (Tel, June 26, 1878.) 



112 TWENTY-EIGHT OBJECTIONS AGAINST THE 

Here the idea of a Christian Binning seems quite 
repugnant to the bishop's opinion of the Chris- 
tian character. He seems to take a very different 
view of things now from that which he entertained 
when we had him on the "stand" before.. Then 
he thought that "the apostle would say" of the 
Christian church at Corinth "that they were sin- 
ful in thought, in word, and in deed;" that Chris- 
tians "seek fleshly gratification," indulge "sensual 
and impure desires, love of parade, gaudy dress, 
and costly decoration, seek honorable distinctions," 
and indulge in "loud boastings of office and posi- 
tion." He seemed impatient over any who might 
be pleased to offer a word of contradiction, and 
says the facts are "so apparent that to pause for 
reasoning upon them is but to contradict a judg- 
ment that has ripened into unquestioned certain- 
ty." (See Telescope, June 19, 1878.) 

Well, as we have seen, the bishop in his later 
testimony ventures to "contradict a judgment that 
has ripened into unquestioned certainty," and 
seems to scorn the very thought that "justification 
allows of sinning." Thus Bishop Castle of June 
26 is against Bishop Castle of June 19, of the 
same year. But let us hear the rest of his testi- 
mony on the negative of this question. 

In answering the question, "Can a soul obtain 
the pardon of its sins without a full and complete 



DOCTRINE OF DOUBLE-BIRTH PERFECTION. 113 

surrender to God?" the bishop says, "He must 
cease his rebellion and possess the spirit of full 
and complete loyalty to the government under 
which he now seeks happiness and protection. * * 
No one can secure pardon but by a fixed purpose 
to abandon all sin." 

1. No sinner can abandon more sin than "all 
sin." 

2. No one can at any time possess a more loyal 
spirit than "the spirit of full and complete loyalty." 

3. Well, the bishop says, all this he must do 
before he can have pardon. 

4. Now, can he retain the approbation of God 
and continue to be a Christian if he in any degree 
"sroes back" from his "surrender," "cessation of 
rebellion," and "spirit of complete loyalty?" 
Surely not. All the witnesses are against such an 
idea. 

5. To retain his justification, then, he must con- 
tinue in the state of complete submission and 
loyalty to God. There must not be the least dis- 
position of rebellion indulged for a moment. 
"Justification allows of no sinning." 

Well, this is good testimony. But how does it 
agree with the bishop's former testimony, or 
with that given in his "experience?" We re- 
member that in this he said, "The form of that 
old life sometimes enslaved me. *.*-.! was 

8 



114 TWENTY-EIGHT OBJECTIONS AGAINST THE 

often brought into captivity to the law of sin. 
* * I felt myself carnal, sold under sin." {My 

Experience, "page 3.) 

But in defining regeneration he says, "Regen- 
eration is defined to be the impartation of spirit- 
ual life to the soul, a change wrought within the 
soul by the power of the Holy Ghost, a renewal 
of our fallen nature, a radical change in the mor- 
al character, and deliverance from the bondage of 
sin." {Tel, June 19, 1878.) 

This is fine testimony. But how does the idea 
of "deliverance from the bondage of sin" har- 
monize with the idea of "the form of that old 
life enslaved me," or, "carnal, sold under sin?" 

Alas, for the contradictory mazes of the douole- 

birth theology ; 

But let us now hear, on the negative side of 
this question, the eminent divine who gave us the 
long chain of matter-of-fact items concerning the 
London Christians, who even professed the second 
work, and yet were impatient, discontented, un- 
thankful, unhappy, complaining, ungentle, vin- 
dictive, unkind, wanting in truthfulness, ill-tem- 
,pered, morose, and intemperate, according to the 
testimouy. Listen to the same witness on the 
negative of the question. 

Mr. Wesley says, "Even babes in Christ are so 
far perfect as not to commit sin." (C. P., page 4.) 



DOCTRINE OF DOUBLE-BIRTH PERFECTION. 115 

Again he says, -"In their trouble they [the unre- 
generate penitent] cry unto the Lord; and he 
shows them that he has taken awav their sins, 
and opens the kingdom of heaven in their hearts, 
— righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy 
Ghost. Sorrow and pain are fled away; and sin 

HATH NO MORE DOMINION OVER THEM." (C. P.. page 9.) 

Again he says, "We allow that the state of a 
justified person is inexpressibly great and glorious. 
He is born again — not of blood, nor of the flesh, 
nor of the will of man, but of God. He is a child 
of God, a member of Christ, an heir of the king- 
dom of heaven. The peace of God, which pass- 
eth all understanding, keepeth his heart and mind 
in Christ Jesus. His very body is a temple of 
the Holy Ghost, and a habitation of God through 
the Spirit. He is created anew in Christ Jesus; 
he is washed; he is sanctified. His heart is puri- 
fied by faith. He is cleansed from the corruption 
that is in the world. The" love of God is shed 
abroad in his heart by the Holy Ghost, which is 
given unto him.' He worships God in spirit and 
in truth. He keepeth the commandments of God, 
and doeth those things that are pleasing in his 
sight, so exercising himself as to- have a con- 
science void of offense toward God and toward 
man; and he has power both over outward and 
inward sin, even from the moment he is justified/' 
(See his sermon on "Sin in Believers") 



116 TWENTY-EIGHT OBJECTIONS AGAINST THE 

Mark the concessions which, by the power of 
the lucid Scriptures, which stare every, man in 
the face, this eminent divine felt compelled to . 
make. Note the language : "His very body is a 
temple of the Holy Ghost, and a habitation of God. 
He is created anew in Christ Jesus; he is washed; 
he is sanctified. His heart is purified. He is 
cleansed from the corruption that is in the 
world. He keepelh the commandments of God; 

HAS A CONSCIENCE VOID OF OFFENSE.* He HATH 

POWER both over outward and inward sin, even 

FROM THE MOMENT HE IS JUSTIFIED." 

This is very clear and emphatic testimony 
against the dominion of sin over the justified soul. 
The fact is, these concessions amount to a full and 
complete surrender of all the ground on which 
the "second-work" doctrine rests. The entire 
foundation of the belief in the necessity of a sec- 
ond purification is the assumption that the heart 
- is not made pure in regeneration ; and- this as- 
sumption is entirely surrendered by the noted 
father of the doctrine in the words above quoted, 
"His heart is purified." Mr. Wesley well knew 
that it is one of the easiest things in the world for 
every Bible-reader to show from the sacred word 
that' every heart is made pure in the first moment 

'Not like Dr. Wood, violating conscience and stifling conviction ev- 
ery day, as wc have seen. 



DOCTRINE OF DOUBLE-BIRTH PERFECTION. 117 

of its regenerate life ; that the regenerating process 
is the purifying process.* He well knew that it 
is equally easy to show that every Christian is a 
sanctified temple of the Holy Ghost.f He makes 
these fatal concessions as if they were meaningless, 
— as if the sacred word were to be taken at fifty 
per cent below r par, — and afterward undertakes, 
by his scholastic ipse dixit, to explain away half of 
the meaning of his own terms. It is pitiful to see 
one man put the opinions of another in authority 
above God's word. But with w r hat terms shall 
we characterize the man who does so with his 
own? 

Well, now, returning to our question under 
consideration, and looking at the witnesses and 
their testimony, we find that we have 

ON THE AFFIRMATIVE 

* 

Messrs. Hoke, Upham, Wesley, Castle, and 
Wood, and 

ON THE NEGATIVE 

Messrs. Wood, Watson, Lee, Hoke, Upham, 
Castle, Wesley, and the Bible. 

If they were all on one side and the Bible on 
the other, we should decide with the Bible; for 
that is always right on all questions discussed on 

♦See Acts 10 : 44 ; 15 : 9 ; I. Cor. 12 : 13 ; Titus 3 : 5-7. 
tSeel. Cor. 3: 16, 17; 6: 11. 



118 TWENfY-EIGIIT OBJECTIONS AGAINST THE 

its sacred pages; and we should receive its blessed 

truth, though it should impeach every man. But 
findin g them contradietiug one another, and some ot 

them on both sides of the question, and some equal y 
explicit and emphatic on both sides, we do well to let 
them pass by wholly unnotieed as religmus guides, 
or, choosing to give them a hearing, sitt the 
words carefully in the blessed, unfailing old B - 
ble-sieve, reject what it rejects, and receive what 
it approves. When a man is on both sides of a 
lion it is a waste of time to hear him, espe- 
cially if there be an abundance of clear cons- 
ent, unerring testimony at hand, as in tins case. 
4 Contradiction. On obtaining Christ with- 
out OBTAINING FULL SALVATION. 

1. It is agreed to on all hands that the blessed 
Redeemer takes up his abode in the heart at the 
^omenT of conversion. As Mr. Wesley says, 
"chTt does not give life to the soul separate from, 
Z in and mth Mnself. Hence his words are 
equally true of all men, in whatsoever state of 
Zee they are. 'As the branch can not bear fruit 
of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can 
i except ye abide in me.' Without L or sepa- 
S me ye can do nothing.' » (C P., page 1 60 
Again, as we saw on a preceding page speak- 
in t of tie "merely justified," he says, "His very 



DOCTRINE OF DOUBLE-BIRTH PERFECTION. 119 

body is a. temple of the Holy Ghost, and a habi- 
tation of God. The love of God is shed abroad 
in his heart by the Holy Ghost, which is given 
unto him." 

This is not given because it is Wesley's language, 
but because it is Bible language given by Wesley, 
and therefore the more acceptable with all "sec- 
ond-work" people. 

Paul said, "If any man have not the Spirit of 
Christ, he is none of his." (Rom. 8: 9.) Jesus 
said, "Abide in me, and I in you." (John 15: 4.) 
So far we all agree. All Christians (not bogus 
converts and backsliders) have Christ dwelling in 
their hearts. 

2. But if it were universally admitted that 
Christ imparts full salvation to every soul in whom 
lie takes up his abode, the second-work doctrine 
would have no existence. Such a view would 
leave no room for the belief of second work. If 
Christ brings full salvation at the moment of 
his first coming into the soul, there could of course 
be no necessitv for a second moral birth in order 
to bring the soul into possession of full salvation. 
Therefore they hold that he only half saves on 

. his first ingress. 

3. Yet some of the shrewdest and most popu- 
lar of their writers are found on both sides of this 
question, as in other cases. At least, they give 



120 TWENTY-EIGHT OBJECTIONS AGAINST THE 

decided testimony on both sides. When they 
have their eye on the vital point, the fundamental 
principle of their doctrine, they guard well their 
words, and testify according to the demands of 
the doctrine. But when they forget their funda- 
mental principles in the discussion of other points 
they often bring forward too much Bible truth 
for the health of their doctrine. Let us hear 
them 

ON THE NEGATIVE OP THIS QUESTION. 

As the negative is the main basis of the entire 
theory, as such they all hold to it, and have all tes- 
titied accordingly. Therefore it is only necessary 
to quote the language of their representative au- 
thors. We have already had before us quotations 
from the father of the doctrine, in which were 
brought to our minds the ideas that the regener- 
ate soul is "full of sin, hidden abominations, the 
-depths of pride, self-will, and hell, yet having the 
witness in themselves, 'Thou art an heir with God, 
a joint heir with Christ.' " We have had before 
us quotations from Professor Upham indicating 
that regenerate souls, real "Christians, do not be- 
lieve as they should do, because they have not 
fully consecrated themselves to God. In other 
words, they continue to indulge in some known 
sins." {Interior Life, pages 28, 29.) We have 



DOCTRINE OF DOUBLE-BIRTH PERFECTION. 121 

heard from Wood and Wesley that "if there be 
no second change after justification, we must be 
content as well as we can to remain full of sin 
till death." (P. L., page 60.) We have heard 
Mr. Hoke tell about the Christian having "in his 
heart principles which tend to evil, as to pride, 
self-will, covetousness, evil-speaking, impure im- 
aginations, etc., and also a power from which he 
can not escape, which prevents him from doing 
many things which he desires to do, and compels 
him to do many things which he would not do." 
(H. H., Nov., 1879.) 

We have heard Bishop Castle telling about the 
whole church at Corinth being "sinful in thought, 
in word, and in deod." We have heard him talk- 
ing about "envy, pride, vanity, bombast, worldly 
ambition, lasciviousness in Christians." (Tel, 
June, 1878.) We have heard him talk about a 
Christian being "enslaved, carnal, sold under sin, 
unable to do the things he would, or to refrain 
from the things he would not do." ("Experience") 
Such is the tenor of all their authors. 

Let us now hear the 

ONLY REASON THEY ASSIGN WHY THE SOUL IS NOT FULLY 

SAVED AT REGENERATION. 

Bishop Castle says, "Man is not only a sinner 
in act, but he is impure in state. But this im- 



122 TWENTY-EIGHT OBJECTIONS AGAINST THE 

purity of state, as such, does not come into view 
until subsequent to conversion." (Tel., Jttm$&, 

1877.) 

In plain language, this means simply that ig- 
norance prevents the soul from being fully saved 
at the first effort of the great Physician. The 
patient does not fully understand his own case 
and state. Therefore the physician can not fully 
heal him. He did not know the full extent of 
the disease, and therefore he did not know just 
how much medicine to ask for. Hence the phy- 
sician gave him only enough to effect half a cure, 
or less; for the remaining part of the cure to be 
effected "is infinitely greater, and of a different 
kind from any before." (C. P., page 23.) But 
why has not some one found out before making 
his application, and obtained enough to effect a 
complete cure at once? Could not some posted 
teacher teach at least one or two, so that there 
might be some exceptional cases?* "Oh, no," 
say these doctors, "it would kill the patient." 
Oh, ho! So then we have come to another reason, 
or rather a reason for the reason. Is this, indeed, 
the theory? Let us see. Mr. Wesley, speaking 
of the regenerate soul awakened —as he views it 
—to a sense of the importance of a second work, 
says, "And now first do they se e the ground of 

*We shall see that they have admitted some. 



DOCTRINE OF DOUBLE-BIRTH PERFECTION, 123 

their hearts, which God before would not disclose 
unto them, lest the soul should fail before him, and 
the spirit which he had made." (C. P., page 10.) 

How Mr. Wesley found out this remarkable 
idea he has not been pleased to inform us. We 
all know that there is nothing of the sort reveal- 
ed in God's word. We know, too, that God com- 
mands his ministers to "cry aloud, spare not, lift 
up thy voice like a trumpet, and shew my people* 
their transgression, and the house of Jacob their 
sins." (Isa. 58: 1.) He plainly declares, "The 
heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately 
wicked." (Jer. 17 : 9.) 

We also know that Jesus in his first sermon 
taught the absolute necessity of purity of heart 
and moral perfection in order to reach heaven. 
We know that he most explicitly taught Nico- 
demus and us the necessity of a change of state, 
even an exceedingly important one — one that as- 
tonished that learned doctor of divinity in the 
illustration thereof. We know that Paul declares, 
"Neither circumcision availeth anything, nor un- 
circumcision, but a new creature." (Gal. 6:15.) 
We know that he declares to all men, "Be ye 
holy; fori am holy." And yet these divines 



*1. All nations and all men are God's property. 2. They were un- 
der his hierachy, and so politically his. 3. They were his medium of 
instruction to the world. 4. They were his by covenant. 5. By pro- 
fession. 



124 TWENTY-EIGHT OBJECTIONS AGAINST THE 

would have us believe that God intentionally 
leaves the soul in ignorance of its real moral con- 
dition till after it is born again, and even then, in 
the millions of cases that lived and died with the 
love of God in their hearts, but never heard of 
the "second-work" theology. If it is a matter 
wholly in his hands, as Mr. Wesley's language in- 
dicates, why does he not immediately, or soon 
after conversion, reveal the important matter to 
the soul and have it sanctified, since we know "It 
is the will of God, even your sanctification?" 
These divines tell us, "This impurity of state does 
not come into view until subsequent to conver- 
sion," because "God before would not disclose it 
unto them, lest the soul should fail before him/' 
Mr. Wesley has the whole matter in God's 
hands, it would seem, apart from his word. Well, 
suppose— which is true— that the sinner can not 
see the worst of his case by his natural powers 
-applied to the word which shows him he ought 
to be holv but is not. We know that God does 
send his Spirit into the world to "reprove the world 
of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment." 
Now the only reason assigned by Mr. Wesley why 
God does not show him "his impurity as such un- 
til subsequent to conversion" is the (assumed) fact 
that the soul could not endure it -it "would fail 
before him." Then we have before us the idea 



DOCTRINE OF DOUBLE-BIRTH PERFECTION. 125 

that the soul is entirely in the hands of Almighty 
God. But this omnipotent Physician, possessing 
unlimited skill, resources, and power, is yet not 
able to communicate sufficient power to the soul 
to endure at once the entire cleansing process and 
life-communicating process ; that is, power-com- 
municating process. It must be acknowledged on 
all hands, and is, that the regeneration process 
consists of a cleansing that is a divestiture of 
moral pollution, and of invigoration, life-giving. 
How absurd the thought, then, that the soul would 
fail under the divine communication of divine 
power, life, and energy. It is like saying, "A 
man is so weak that if God should communicate 
the full strength of a man to him his strength 
would fail, and he could not endure it. He is so 
w r eak that the addition of strength would so in- 
crease his weakness that he would be overwhelmed. 
He is so poor that if great riches are given him it 
will so increase his poverty that he will be bank- 
rupt at once." Bewildering contradictions are 
sometimes passed oft* for logic. The sophisms 
and assumptions of these divines are striking in- 
stances. 

Bishop Castle insists that "the fact is, Christ is 
only unto his people what they by faith, in every 
instance, make him." (Tel., April 30, 1879.) 
Isaiah says of the highway of holiness that "the 



125 TWENTY-EIGHT OBJECTIONS AGAINST THE 

wayfaring men, though fools, shall not err there- 
in." Isa. 35 : 8.) But according to these divines 
and evident facts, millions have traveled for many 
years in the way to heaven (for all the justified are 
on the way to heaven, as all agree,) without ever 
once dreaming that they were constantly "full of 
sin" from want of the double birth, a thing of 
which they never once heard. 

The fact is, no soul ever yet embraced Christ 
until it discovered to a painful certainty that 
it was in a lost state, and needed salvation. Un- 
der the influence of this awful discovery it look- 
ed around for a Savior. Learning that Jesus 
"is mighty to save and strong to deliver," it called 
in the great Physician, believing that he fully un- 
derstood the case, and could and would save. He 
came in and saved because the soul trusted in him. 
(Ps. 37 : L) Not because he understood all about 
the case, but "because he trusted in him." He 
-could never tell how Jesus regenerated him, how 
much power it took, how dark his stains were, 
only he believed that Christ is an all-sufficient 
Savior, able to save all that come, and casts out 
none that come. He trusted his case oyer into 
the all-sufficient Hand, and was instantly saved. 
Millions of very ignorant persons have been saved. 
They knew when they had Christ in the soul. 
They knew he filled them with love, joy, peace, 



DOCTRINE OF DOUBLE-BIRTH PERFECTION. 127 

and glory. They knew they were in full harmony 
and love with him. They knew that he approved 
them. They believed if he condemned them not, 
no one else had a right to do so. So they passed 
their days, without ever hearing of the double- 
birth doctrine, died in peace, and went to heaven. 
Multitudes with much learning spent years in 
searching God's word, and died in sweet peace, 
without ever knowing anything about the double- 
birth doctrine. None of these, unbefoggedby the 
theologians, ever once dreamed that they needed 
to instruct Christ just how much salvation to give 
them, how much purity, how much love, how 
much joy, how much peace, how much power. 
They supposed all the while that he knew a thou- 
sand times better than they did what to do for 
them, how to do it, and all about it. 

"He that hath the Son hath life," however ig- 
norant he may be. 

"Well, we have now before us, from the pens of 
these second-work divines, the following proposi- 
tions: 

1. The regenerate soul is in a state of moral 
pollution. 

2. This is so because it did not seek moral 
purity as a state. 

3. It failed to do this because it wag too ig- 



128 TWENTY-EIGHT OBJECTIONS AGAINST THE 

norant properly to apprehend its moral condition ; 
and this is universally the case. 

4. It was too ignorant to apprehend its need 
properly, because God would not fully reveal the 

case. 

5. God declined such revelation because it 

would crush the soul. 

6. God either could not, or else he would not 
sufficiently sustain the soul to endure the process. 
Which of these two suppositions is the correct 
one these divines, in their wisdom, leave us to con- 
jecture. Either one is very disparaging to the 
character of our God. Either is a gross misrepre- 
sentation of his character, and can only proceed 
on the false assumption that it is not his will that 
the soul should be purified at the moment of re- 

generation. 

Let us now hear the divines of the second work 

on the 

AFFIRMATIVE SIDE 



♦ 



of this question. We shall find some on both 

sides 

Mr. Hoke says, "There is no more necessity to 
understand the theory of salification to attain 
to its experience than there is to understand the 
theory of justification in order to acquire its ex- 



DOCTRINE OF DOUBLE-BIRTH PERFECTION. 129 

perience. * * 'May there not be instances 
where persons received the grace of entire sancti- 
fication at the time they were converted?' There 
doubtless have been cases where persons in the 
ardor of their first love have risen to a consecra- 
tion so complete, and an effort so persistent, as to 
have received the blessing of entire sanctification, 
without having specifically sought it under that 
name. Received in this desultory way, in the full- 
ness of their first love, with no perceptible differ- 
ence in the blessing received, or time intervening, 
they may claim, as some do, that their sanctifica- 
tion and justification were simultaneous." (High- 
way of Holiness, Nov., 1879.) 

Here is a complete and formal surrender of the 
whole system. Here it is admitted that some 
have obtained entire sanctification at the moment 
of regeneration. Thus it is clear, beyond all 
question, that God has no rule or law against it. 
Nay, he is entirely in favor of it, seeing that he is 
the principal party and chief agent of all the 
cases which have occurred. Thus it appears also 
that God can communicate sufficient light and 
knowledge to the soul to enable it to embrace both 
regeneration and "entire sanctification at the time 
of conversion," without "the soul failing before 
him, and the spirit which he had made." The 
communication of a double portion of purity and 

9 



130 TWENTY-EIGHT OBJECTIONS AGAINST THE 

strength does not, according to Mr. Hoke's view, 
so enfeeble the soul as to cause it to flag, sink, tail, 
and perish. He can not see, with Mr. Wesley, 
that to strengthen is to enfeeble and crush. Nor 
can he see, with Bishop Castle, that "Christ is 
only unto his people what they in every in- 
stance make him," with respect to each and every 
feature of the great, wonderful, and mysterious 
work of redemption. Mr. Hoke attributes the 
success of what he regards as exceptional cases 
not to any special illumination of the soul, nor in 
its special seeking for a specific feature of redemp- 
tion, but "to a consecration so complete, and an 
effort so persistent, as to have received the bless- 
ino- of entire sanctification without having specif- 
ically sought it under that name."* Complete 
consecration, then, is the cause of success in these 
undeniable cases, which Mr. Hoke supposes to be 
exceptional and anomalous. But we remember 
, that this is the identical witness who testified that 
"consecration in both. cases, and in all cases, must 
be complete and entire." We do not want him 
to go back on this now ; for it is a fundamental 
Bible doctrine, as we have seen ; and even Bishop 
Castle says, "To obtain pardon the sinner must 
cease from his rebellion, mid possess t he spirit of 

' .1 should have" given the readeTl^xplanatioTbefore now of the 
iength.ness of quotations when perspicuity does not demand ,t. It .. 
to avoid the accusation of unfairness with the authors. 



DOCTKINE OF DOUBLE-BIKTH PERI*ECTION. 131 

full and complete loyalty to the government under 
which he now seeks happiness and protection." 
(Tel, May 28, 1878.) "Complete loyalty to the 
government" of God surely involves perfect con- 
secration. Thus we see from Mr. Hoke's own 
testimony, corroborated by that of Bishop Castle, 
the very thing to which he ascribes success in these 
supposed anomalous cases of "entire sanctifica- 
tion at the moment of regeneration" must precede 
each and every case of conversion. It only re- 
mains for us now to sfrake hands with Mr. Hoke, 
and thank him for the honest statement of truth 
and frank surrender of the double-birth doctrine.* 
If, then, God has bestowed the blessing of en- 
tire sanctification on some souls at the moment of 
conversion because they made a "full and complete 
consecration, and if such a consecration must 
precede every conversion, then we ask, in the 
name of common intelligence, can any one assign 
a scriptural or a common-sense reason why the 
Holy Blessed One should not and will not bestow 
the same blessing on compliance with the same 
condition in every case of conversion ? There can 
be no reason assigned. Therefore it remains that 
the work of regeneration and of entire sanctifica- 
cation always occurs at the same moment, and by 

*It seems strange that Mr. Hoke still reckons himself with that class 
of theologians. 



132 TWENTY-EIGHT OBJECTIONS AGAINST THE 

the same agency and the same process. There is 
no plurality about it. It is simply one work that 
accomplishes what is designated by different terms 
for the purpose of directing thought to diftereut 
phases of the same thiug. 
Let us hear another witness on the affirmative 

of this question. 

Kev. John Harden, giving his "experience," 
says, "The work the Lord did for me that day 
was' done perfectly satisfactorily. I could not 
doubt it. Infidelity fled from the face of the con- 
quering Spirit. The great God became my Fa- 
ther, and I received the consciousness of my son- 
ship'. * * Notwithstanding my conversion was 
so clear and unmistakable, conviction for holiness 
at once seized me. This conviction did not result 
from having sinned against God after my conver- 
sion ; but it arose from an inward consciousness 
of my need of purity, and from a settled belief 
that it was God's will that I should be holy.* I 
was no sooner converted than my soul began to 
go out after the fullness of Him that filleth all in 
all. Every prayer was a cry for holiness; and 
every testimony was a confession of my need of 
it, and my determination to ask and receive, to 
se'ek and find, to knock an d enter into the land of 

-^ubtless under the instructs, of ".Toond-work" teachers Other- 
wise this is a genuine case of Pentecost after purification. I Purity. 
2. Power. 



DOCTRINE OF DOUBLE-BIRTH PERFECTION. 133 

rest from inbred sin, the land of perfect peace.'"* 
{Highway of Holiness, Feb. 1878.) 

This extract of experience is given as a court- 
eous introduction to this worthy author, and that 
the reader may know of a certainty that he is a 
genuine "second-work" theologian. Now let us 
hear his testimony on the question before us; 
namely, "Can a soul obtain Christ without obtain- 
ing full salvation?" 

Rev. Mr. Harden says, "He who carries the 
overflowing heart of an indwelling Christ is filled 
even unto all the fullness of God; 'for it pleased 
the Father that in him should all fullness dwell/ 
I am glad that God has placed the bank stock of 
man's salvation in Jesus Christ. He that gets 
Christ £ets the bank and its contents. Hallelu- 
jah ! " {Highway of Holiness, April, 1ST 9— Bishop 
Castle, editor.) 

Here is Bible testimony. 1. He that has Christ 
\ n him — as all justified persons have — "is filled 
even unto all the fullness of God ;" for in Christ 
all fullness dwells. 2. "God has placed the bank 
stock of man's salvation in Jesus/' 3. "He that 
gets Christ gets the bank and its contents." 

Is there fall salvation in Jesus Christ? All an- 
swer, "Yes." Very well; then he that gets him 



*Every justified soul has perfect peace. See Rom. 5: 1; 8: 1; Isa, 
26: 3; Ps. 119; 165. 



134 TWENTY-EIGHT OBJECTIONS AGAINST THE 

gets full salvation. This is Bible truth. Butwhere, 
now, is the occasion or necessity for a second 
work in order to bring the converted soul into the 
possession of full salvation, when it has full sal- 
vation already, having obtained it the moment it 
obtained Christ at conversion V There can be no 
such necessity, according to this testimony. Hence 
we see clearly that the doctrine rests on a myth. It 
has no foundation in truth. But Rev. J. Har- 
dens golden proposition, "He that gets Christ 
gets the bank and its contents," rests on a foun- 
dation firmer than the rock Gibraltar— even on 
the eternal word of the Maker of Gibraltar. Here 
it is : "He that spared not his own Son, but de- 
livered him up for us all, how shall he not with 
him also freely give us all things ? (Rom. 8 : 32.) 
"All things are yours." (I. Cor. 3: 21.) 

Mr. John Wesley, speaking of the perfect Chris- 
tian, says, "Every one of these can say, with St. 
Paul, 'I am crucified* with Christ; nevertheless I 
* live:' yet not I, but Christ liveth in me'— words 
that manifestly describe a deliverance from inward 
as well as from outward sin. This is expressed 
both negatively, 'I live not'— my evil nature, the 
body of sin, is destroyed ; and positively, 'Christ 
liveth in me,' and therefore all that is holy and 

*Here Mr. Wesley seems to have a better recollection of the meaning 
of the word "crucified" than he has in his sermon on "Sin in Believ- 
ers." See Contradiction 3— Wesley in. 



DOCTRINE OF DOUBLE-BIRTH PERFECTION. 135 

just and good. Indeed, both these, 'Christ liveth 
in me/ and, 'I live not/ are inseparably connected. 
For what communion hath light with darkness, 
or Christ with Belial? " (C. P., page 6.) 

It is amazing that Mr. Wesley could so clearly 
see the three points which he so 1 acidly presents 
to our view, and yet could not see that they are 
fatally at variance with his doctrine. He says : 

1. " 'Christ liveth in me/ and therefore all that 
is holy and just and good. 2. Indeed, both these, 
'Christ liveth in me/ and, 'I live not/ are insepa- 
rably connected. 3. For what communion hath 
light with darkness, or Christ with Belial ? " 

Thus he clearly teaches that whenever Christ 
dwells in a soul, that soul is dead to sin, "and all 
that is holy, just and good" lives in it ; that these 
facts are "inseparably connected" with the fact of 
Christ's residence in the soul. And he is careful 
to assign the Bible reason for the inseparability of 
the two facts: (1) The soul's death to sin, and (2) 
the life of the soul in all that is holy, just, and 
good; namely, (1) "Christ liveth in me," and (2) 
"light hath no communion with darkness, and 
Christ hath no concord with Belial." Now, ad- 
mitting that Christ takes up his abode in the soul 
at the moment of conversion, it follows as an in- 
evitable conclusion from the scriptural premises 
laid before us by Mr. Wesley that whenever a 



136 TWENTY-EIGHT OBJECTIONS AGAINST THE 

a soul is born of God it at the same moment dies 
to sin, and commences a new life in "all that is 
holy, just, and good." And the cause of this 
new, holy state of the soul is the fact of an in- 
dwelling, holy Christ, who will not dwell in an 
unholy temple, and can not harmonize with Belial, 
or Satan, who certainly dwells in the soul so long 
as there is sin there ; for this same Mr. Wesley 
informs us that "all sin is the work of the devil." 
When these men furnish us with so many over- 
whelming refutations of their own favorite doc- 
trine, as Mr. Wesley has here, why should they 
or others find fault with us for rejecting it. When 
two witnesses contradict one another on a specific 
point it is fitting that we should reject both till 
we can learn the truth in the case from some oth- 
er witness. But what shall we do with a man's 
testimony when he is not only contradicted by 
several witnesses who are interested in his favor, 
but even by himself? We have before us, on the 
* question under consideration, Messrs. Hoke, Har- 
den, and Wesley, against all the divines of this 
"second-work" school, Hoke, Harden, and Wes- 
ley included. We need to look to a higher source 
of lio-ht for the truth in the case. That blessed 
lamp° of God is the Bible. When they obviously 
plant an argument on this, as Mr. Wesley evi- 
dently does in his last testimony before us, we are 



DOCTRINE OF DOUBLE-BIRTH PERFECTION. 137 

hound to receive it. And this we do most cheer- 
fully. But while we do this we are obliged, hy 
the same argument, to reject his "second-work" 
doctrine. 

4. Contradiction. — On Purification Instanta- 
neous or Gradual. 

The Hebrew shepherds were first to hear the 
grandest message of facts that ever greeted the ears 
of sojourners on our planet, — "Unto you is born this 
day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ 
the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you : Ye 
shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling-clothes, 
lying in a manger. * * * Glory to God in the 
highest, and on earth peace, good-will toward men." 
(Luke 2: 11, 12, 14.) 

The divine plan in everything embraces 1. Di- 
vine fact. 2. Divine revelation of fact. 3. Di- 
vine favors on his creatures. 4, Divine glory. 
These four items philosophically merge into a 
trinity. The favors and the revelation of them 
naturally merge into one another; for nothing 
can in strict philosophy be a favor to a being un- 
til it is known to the being favored. Whether 
the author of the favor be known or not, is not 
strictly, in every case, the question. The favor 
itself must be known before it can be a favor. A 
favor in prospect, unknown to the — so-called — 



138 TWENTY-EIGHT OBJECTIONS AGAINST THE 

favored party, is not to him a favor; though the 
thing proposed, but unknown to him, may some 
time become a favor, yet it is not now a favor. 
Either the actual possession or the certain assur- 
ance of future possession must, in the very nature 
of the case, come, to the soul before it can be a fa- 
vor. The wild eagle, the tiger, and the grizzly 
bear enjoy favors from God, though they know 
him not. The favors are experimentally known, 
not in the character of favors, but as facts. So 
the infidel, even the atheist and the cannibal, en- 
joy favors at his hand. The polluted libertine 
experimentally enjoys the stay of execution and 
present exemption from the pains of Gehenna and 
the deathless worm. It is the price of the blood 
•of the Lamb, though he knows not or cares not 
for that precious blood. God has no glory from 
him; though the, multitude of the heavenly host 
perpetually laud the mercy that spares the wretch. 
He robs God, and thwarts the divine plan to the 
extent of the value of his being to the rest of the 
universe. The "multitude of the heavenly host" 
could shout "glory to God in the highest," over the 
fact of a born Savior; for they knew it. The shep- 
herds could join in the heavenly chant when they 
found him an existing fact. But this they could not 
have done had they been disappointed in their 
search where he was said to be. No songs of 



DOCTRINE OP DOUBLE-BIRTH PERFECTION. 139 

praise over angelic delusions, mythical visions, or 
splendid hallucinations, detected by actual search, 
would have escaped their lips, but coy expressions 
of choked regrets and silent woftil wonderment. 
Then they would dismiss the affair as a halluci- 
nation of sleepy senses, and fall back and rest 
in silent hope on the promise repeatedly given 
through the prophets and corroborated by matter- 
of-fact wonders and divers miracles through the 
a^es. 

No one can give glory to God for matter-of-fact 
salvation, unless he know^s he has it, — or thinks 
he knows, at least. Therefore a knowledge of a 
matter-of-fact salvation is an absolute prerequisite 
to the fulfillment of such sacred commands as 
these: "Ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy 
may be full." (John 16: 24.) "Rejoice ever- 
more. * * In all things give thanks;" and also 
to a rational apprehension of God's definition of 
his own spiritual kingdom: — "The kingdom of 
God is not meat and drink;* but righteousness,! 
and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost." (Rom. 
14: 17.) 

Thus are we inevitably borne to the conclusion 
that the fact of salvation and the ioy of salvation 

are inseparable. The fact brings the joy, for the 

. 

*Does not consist in the means of sensuous enjoyment. 
fHoliness. (See Watson's Bib. Die.) 



140 TWENTY-EIGHT OBJECTIONS AGAINST THE 

joy is part of the fact. "The kingdom is [in part] 
joy and peace." "Ask." When ye "receive, your 
joy shall be full." "Rejoice evermore." How can 
we under condemnation? You can not; but "the 
fruit of the Spirit is joy." (Gal. 5: 22.) Can we 
not have the righteousness of God's kingdom 
without the joy? No; for the kingdom consists 
of three elements which are inseparable. 1. 
''Righteousness. 2. Peace. 3. Joy." You can 
not have one without the other two. But can we 
not have these elements of the kingdom without 
being conscious of all ? No ; for they are fruits of 
the Spirit, and he will not impart the greatest of 
all gifts— salvation— when the soul is not in har- 
mony with his invariable plan of "fact, revelation, 
and glory." Indeed, the soul can not be in the 
saved state without being in harmony with the 
divine plan; for to pronounce a sentence of justi- 
fication on a soul while it is conscious of variance 
from his plans would be equivalent to self-im- 
peachment by the Holy One, with favoring rebell- 
ion against his own government. The soul, then, 
heing in harmony with the divine plans on receipt 
of the gift of the Holy Ghost, would consent to 
the item of "divine glory," and cheerfully give 
praise to God. But how could he praise him for 
the possession of a thing-salvation-when he 
was not certain that he had received it? He 



DOCTRINE OF DOUBLE-BIRTH PERFECTION. 141 

could not sincerely. Then a part of the divine 
plan must be "revelation ;" so that he could know 
and give thanks and "glory." "Do all to the 
glory of God." 

Moreover, the revelation of salvation is, as we 
have seen in the divine definition of it, a part of 
the fact; therefore the plan, the Executor of the 
plan,— that is, the Holy Ghost, — the soul receiving 
the favor, and the fact of the favor, whose value 
and grandeur and glory no tongue or pen of man 
or golden harp of mighty angel can ever ex- 
press, all harmonize in a "revelation" of the 
fact. "A city that is set on a hill can not be hid." 
When the soul is elevated to the rank of the re- 
deemed, the fact can not be hid. The fact, the 
revelation, and the glory are inseparable. The 
angelic hosts shouted, "Glory to God in the high- 
est," over a matter-of-fact Redeemer. So also did 
the shepherds, when they in fact found him. 
They found him in a certain place, according to 
angelic direction, and in a certain moment, accord- 
ing to philosophical necessity. All other moments 
having fallen into the grave of the past before the 
one in which they found him, and none of the 
future moments yet having come, that particular 
moment was a very definite one. So when the 
soul is born of God into his heavenly family and 
moral kingdom of "righteousness, peace, and joy 



142 TWENTY-EIGHT OBJECTIONS AGAINST THE 

in the Holy Ghost," the fact occurs in a definite 
moment, all other moments being past or future, 
and in the definite locality which it occupies at 
that definite moment. And it is agreed on all 
hands that in that moment the soul is filled with 
Deity-,— the Father, Son, and Spirit— and so with 
"love, joy, peace, and the hope of eternal glory." 
All this, it is agreed, commences at the moment 
of regeneration. There is no dispute among those 
who "believe in regeneration at all as to its instan- 
taneousness. If then "entire sanctification" is, as 
Mr. Wesley declares, "of a different kind and in- 
finitely greater than any ["change wrought"] be- 
forehand than any can conceive till he experience 
it •" (C. P., page 23) and if it be, as they call it, 
an "entire" fact when it is "wrought" in "this 
birthday of the Spirit of love in our souls, [which] 
whenever we attain, will feast our souls with such 
peace and joy in God as will blot out the remem- 
brance of everything we called peace or joy be- 
fore" (Fletcher after Wesley), in that period when 
"the Son hath made them free who are thus born 
of God from that great root of sin and bitterness- 
pride," (C. P., page 8) have we not a right, in the 
very nature of things, and according to the essen- 
tial meaning of their terms, to expect a complete 
agreement among the "second-work divines, in 
affirming the instantaneous purification of the 



DOCTRINE OF DOUBLE-BIRTH > PERFECTION. 143 

soul, whenever that work occurs? Have we not a 
right to expect them to declare with one voice, 
"The 'entire sanctification' of the soul is not a 
gradual but an instantaneous work?' From the 
high character which they attribute to the work, 
viewed in the light of the truths we have just now 
been contemplating, we certainly have a right to 
expect their unanimous affirmation of the propo- 
sition that "entire sanctification occurs in a mo- 
ment." * 

1. The overwhelming joy and peace they speak 
of, so far above that in regeneration, which we 
know is matter of instantaneous consciousness, 
would certainly become a matter of consciousness 
equally sudden. 

2. They tell us "profession is essential to reten- 
tion." But how can a man honestly profess "en- 
tire sanctification" before he knows — or at least 
thinks he knows — he has it? 

3. They tell us, "It must be definitely sought 
as a specific state." But if it is not obtained at a 
definite period, how shall we know when to cease 
seeking it, and commence the profession of it? 
We might profess falsely by professing too soon, 
or lose it in the neglect of duty by waiting too 
long. 

The nature of the supposed case demands defi- 
niteness. Well, some of their authors have it 



144 TWENTY-EIGHT OBJECTIONS AGAINST THE 

definite in all cases. Some have it definite in 
some cases and indefinite in others. Some have 
it both definite and indefinite in all cases. "Both 
instantaneous and progressive." "Entirely sanc- 
tified," that is, entirely purified; yet continually 
undergoing the process of purification ! Progress- 
ing from complete purity toward complete purity ! 
That would be like a man progressing from the 
center of a city toward the center of that city, or 
from the top of a hill toward the top of that hill. 

AFFIRMATIVE WITNESSES. 

Bishop Castle, after Bishop Hedding, says, 
"Eegeneratiou is the beginning of purification : 
entire sanctification is the finishing of that work." 

(Tel., June 19, 1878.) 

Again he says, "Sanctification is soul-health. 
It is that moral condition of things in which the 
spiritual man matures or attains 'unto a perfect 
man unto the measure of the stature of the full- 
ness of Christ.' Sanctification is God's moral 
training, treatment, or care of the life begotten by 
regeneration-its perfect health." (Tel, Sept. 11, 

1878.) , 

These are clear and definite statements, and 

would lead us to the conclusion that there comes 

a moment when the work of the soul's purification 

is made perfect; when it is improved to a state of 



DOCTRINE OF DOUBLE-BIRTH PERFECTION. 145 

"purification finished" and "soul-health perfect- 
ed." This can not easily be misunderstood. When 
the purification of a soul is finished, it is perfect 
and can not be improved ; arid when the "soul's 
health is perfect" it can be no healthier; there 
can be no improvement of its health. The lucky 
moment is said to be the moment of "sanctifica- 
tion." 

Dr. Wood, in speaking of "inbred sin," says, 
"Its removal is an instantaneous and not a gradual 
work. The preparation for its extirpation may 
be gradual, but its expulsion and the reception of 
a purified state are instantaneous." (P. L., page 
5, 8.) 

Mr. Wesley says, "As to manner, I believe this 
perfection is always wrought in the soul by a sim- 
ple act of faith; consequently in an instant." 
Again he says, "To talk of this work as being 
gradual, would be nonsense, as much as if we 
talked of gradual justification." (P. L., page 65.) 
Here perfection is accomplished in a moment. 
And "it would be talking nonsense to talk of this 
work as being gradual." This is doubtless cor- 
rect; and yet we shall soon hear Mr. Wesley 
talking just such "nonsense." 

Dr. Richard Watson says, "We have already 
spoken of justification, adoption, regeneration, 

and the witness of the Spirit, and we proceed to 

10 



146 TWENTY-EIGHT OBJECTIONS AGAINST THE 

another as distinctly marked and as graciously 
promised in the Holy Scriptures ; this is the en- 
tire sanctification or the perfected holiness of be- 
lievers. * * * That a distinction exists be- 
tween a regenerate state and a state of entire and 
perfect holiness, will be generally allowed. * * 
It must be concluded that the entire sanctification 
of the soul and its complete renewal in holiness, 
must take place in this world. * * * He who 
has a true faith in Christ is freed from sin." (In- 
stitutes in one Vol., pages 611, 612.) 

In these and many other words, Dr. Watson 
taught the doctrine of present, entire freedom 
from sin and maturity in complete holiness. In- 
deed, the sentence last quoted implies that ev- 
ery regenerate soul "is freed from sin/ 5 unless 
it be assumed — what no one claims — that the 
soul may be regenerated without "a true faith in 
Christ;" for the doctor emphatically says, "He 
who has a true faith in Christ is freed from sin." 
' Every soul must have a true faith in Christ before 
conversion. And this "true faith in Christ," the 
doctor says, insures present freedom from sin. 
And freedom from sin is inseparably connected 
'with holiness, and therefore may, with propriety, 
be considered identical with holiness. And the 
state of holiness is the highest possible moral state 
any being can attain. Therefore Dr. Watson un- 



DOCTRINE OF DOUBLE-BIRTH PERFECTION. 147 

equivocally teaches, by his terras, the doctrine of 
Christian perfection in regeneration, though he 
also teaches the contrary. Yet we see that he 
labors to teach that "the entire sanctiflcation of 
the soul and its complete renewal in holiness 
must take place in this world." This is sharply 
definite. It not only teaches that holiness is at- 
tainable in this life, but that this "complete re- 
newal in holiness" is accomplished at the moment 
of sanctiflcation. No language can fix an event 
at a certain point of time more definitely than the 
doctor fixes the "completeness of the soul in holi- 
ness." And yet we shall find him placing the 
soul's moral improvement a little farther in the 
abyss of indefiniteness than any finite imagination 
can penetrate. Let us now see if we can not in- 
duce all these divines to come over to the other 
side of this question, "Is the work of purification 
accomplished instantaneously?" and testify as 

NEGATIVE WITNESSES. 

We will have Bishop Castle and Dr. Watson 
together. The bishop uses the doctor's language 
as the vehicle of his ideas, and so makes it his 
own. After Dr. Watson, Bishop Castle says 
"that the regeneration which accompanies justi- 
fication is a large approach to this state of perfect 



148 TWENTY-EIGHT OBJECTIONS AGAINST THE 

holiness, and that all dying to sin, and all growth 
in grace, advances us nearer to this point of entire 
sanctity is so obvious that there can be no reason- 
able dispute." (C in Tel, Nov. 1878, and Inst. 
in I. Vol., page 612.) 

This lanffua^e unmistakably teaches that the 
process of purification may proceed gradually. 
Mr. Wesley calls this "talking nonsense." These 
divines are pretty hard with one another, yet they 
probably mean nothing harmful by it. 

Again Bishop Castle says, "Perfection op de- 
gree IS NEVER ATTAINABLE." {Tel., Oct. 22, 1879.) 

Here we have it in a nut-shell. No one ever 
claimed perfection in anything excepting only 
moral purity. And this whole discussion relates 
to moral purity. The bishop was here discussing 
the topic of moral purity. And he tells us that 
"perfection of degree is never attainable." This 
fixes the matter for time and eternity. According 
to this no one ever need expect deliverance from 
moral pollution, neither in this world nor in the 
world to come. Has the bishop forgotten his for- 
mer testimony, in which he said, "Sanctification 
is soul health. It is that moral condition of things 
in which the spiritual man matures or attains unto 
a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of 
the fullness of Christ. * * . * It is perfect 
health." 






DOCTRINE OF DOUBLE-BIRTH PERFECTION. 149 

What does lie mean? Is there perfection of 
degree in Christ? Certainly. Well, the bishop 
told us that "sanctification brings the soul to the 
fullness of Christ." If Christ is morally perfect, 
perfect in the degree of his moral purity, then, 
according to the bishop's former testimony, the 
soul's purity becomes also perfect in the degree of 
its moral purity at the moment of "entire sancti- 
fication," But, according to his later testimony, 
"perfection of degree is never attainable/' 
When he penned this testimony he was doubtless 
thinking of Dr. Watson's language of precisely 
the same import where the doctor says, "The de- 
gree of every virtue implanted by grace is not 
limited, but advances and grows in the living 
Christian through life, and through eternity also." 
(Inst., page 613.) 

This declaration, from the pen of this eminent 
divine, is possibly true in every item excepting 
the particular item which he had and which we 
have under discussion; namely, the item of moral 
purity, freedom from sin, freedom from moral 
pollution. But if it be true of this item, then 
salvation has never yet come to this world, and 
the human family is yet without a Savior. 

1. The doctor says, "The degree of every vir- 
tue implanted by grace advances and grows 
through eternity." 



150 TWENTY-EIGHT OBJECTIONS AGAINST THE 

2. If moral purity is not a virtue, then there 
is no virtue. It is the center and sum of all vir- 
tues. 

3. If it is not implanted by grace, then there 

is no grace. We surely have no independent vir- 
tue. "By grace are ye saved." u Not by works 
of righteousness which we have done. * * He 
saved us by the washing of regeneration." "It is 
the gift of God." (Eph. 2 : 8.) What is the gift 
of God? Salvation. Does salvation embrace 
moral purity? Certainly. "He shall save his 
people from their sins/' said an angel to his moth- 
er. "Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow." 
(rs. 51: 7.) "Now ye are clean," said Jesus to 
the eleven, after Judas had gone out from the 

supper. 

. 4. "Was their cleanness of such a character as 
that it could 'grow through eternity ? ' " Accord- 
ing to Dr. Watson's later testimony it could "ad- 
* vance and grow" forever. 

5. The impure can be purified only by the re- 
moval of pollution. Hence "the degree" of purity 
can only "advance and grow" by the continued 
removal of pollution or uncleanness. But pollu- 
tion can not be removed where there is none. 

6. If, then, a thing be in such a condition as to 
be susceptible of cleansing during a year, it will 
not, of course, be clean till the year is ended. If 



DOCTRINE OF DOUBLE-BIRTH PERFECTION. 151 

its purity can be improving in the best of hands, 
and under the best process during ten years, it 
can not be pure till the ten j^ears are ended. If 
a soul can be ten millions of years under the best 
process of purification, it will not be pure till the 
ten millions of years are ended. If the soul's puri- 
ty may continue under the best purifying process 
of an omnipotent Hand through eternity, it will 
not, of course, be cured till eternity is ended. When 
will that be? God himself can see no end to eter- 
nity; for there is nc^ae, — there will be none. If 
then Bishop Castle and Dr. Watson be correct in 
their statements, that "perfection of degree is nev- 
er attainable," and "the degree of every virtue 
may advance and grow through eternity," then 
we are borne to the following conclusions: 

1. Salvation from sin has never yet reached our 
planet. 2. If any soul enters heaven on leaving 
this world, no finite mind can comprehend nor 
tongue express the amount and degree of moral 
pollution in heaven. 3. The period of heaven's 
purity will never arrive. 4. The psalmist knew 
nothing about theology when he offered the pray- 
er, "Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.' ; 
5. Jesus was an impostor, or a novice in theology , 
when he said, "Now ye are clean through the 
words which I have spoken unto you." 6. It was 
an incorrect statement which was made in heaven/ 



152 TWENTY-EIGHT OBJECTIONS AGAINST THE 

"These are they which came out of great tribula- 
tion, and have washed their robes, and made them 
white in the blood of the Lamb." (Rev. 7: 14.) 
7. There can be no propriety in the talk of these 
garrulous "second-work" theologians about "entire 
sanctification," "entire sanctity," "perfect holiness," 
"entire and perfect holiness," "full salvation," 
"perfectly cleansed," "cleansed through and 
through," and so on and on and on. 

The reader clearly sees that Castle and Watson 
are heavy witnesses again^J; Castle and Watson. 
We must hasten. 

Mr. Wesley says, "There is no perfection which 
does not admit of a continual increase." (C. P., 
page 4.) Again he says, "When does inward 
sanctification begin? Ans. In the moment a man 
is justified. Yet sin remains in him; yea, the 
seed of sin, till he is sanctified throughout. From 
that time a believer gradually dies to sin and 
grows in grace" (C. P., page 11.) 

Does Mr. Wesley mean gradually when he says 
"gradually?" Or does he mean instantaneous ? 
Has he forgotten that when we last heard him he 
said, "To talk of this work being gradual would 

be nonsense?" 

Again he says, "But is not this the case of all 
that are justified? Do they not gradually die to 
sin and grow in grace till at, or perhaps a little 



DOCTRINE OF DOUBLE-BIRTH PERFECTION. 153 

before death God perfects them in love? Ans. I 
believe this is the case of most, but not all. God 
usually gives a considerable time for men to receive 
light, to grow in grace, to do and suffer his will, 
before they are either justified* or sanctified. But 
he does not invariablyf adhere to this. Some- 
times he cuts short his work. He does the work 
of many years in a few weeks, perhaps in a week, 
a day, an hour. He justifies, or sanctifies both 
those who have done or suffered nothing, and who 
have not had time for a gradual growth, either in 
lights or grace. It need not, therefore, be affirm- 
ed over and over, and proved by forty texts of 
scripture, either that most men are perfect in love 
at last, that there is a gradual work of God in the 
soul, or that, generally speaking, it is a long time, 
even many years, before sin is destroyed. All 
this we know. But we know likewise that God 
may, with man's good leave, cut short his work, in 
whatever degree he pleases, and do the usual work 
of many years in a moment.^* He does so in 
many instances."** (C. P., page 39.) 

Thus Mr. Wesley keeps on reiterating what he 

, i — — — 

*Can the unconverted do God's will? "The carnal mind is enmity 
against God. " (Paul.) "Ye can not serve the Lord." (Joshua.) 

fGrod's ways are not variable. 

tfMr Wesley has quite forgotten that so sudden a communication of 
light would cause "the soul to fail before him, and the spirit which he 
had made." See "4 Contradiction"— "Only reason they assign, "&c 
♦This is like Mr. Hoke's surrender. 



154 TWENTY-EIGHT OBJECTIONS AGAINST THE 

calls "nonsense." Not only so; but he shows us 
thp,t in most cases Christians spend a whole life- 
time in the "polluted, "merely regenerate" state. 
Then God comes, without any conditions being 
met on their part, and cuts short "the usual work 
of years in a moment." Now the question comes 
upon us irresistibly, Why does he not "cut short 
the work in a moment" in every case? If he can 
justly do so unconditionally in one or "in many 
cases," why can he not, on the same ground, in 
all? Once Mr. Wesley told us that so sudden a 
transition from darkness to light would crush the 
soul ; but now he sees that it is a mistake. This 
difficulty being out of the way, and no other in 
the way, and it being "the will of God, even your 
sanctification," — and a sanctified man certainly is 
more useful in the world than anunsanctitied one, 
—and the work can be unconditionally done in 
all cases with the same regard to righteous gov- 
ernment that is required in "many," there can be 
no good reason assigned why God should not "cut 
short the usual work of many years in a moment" 
for every convert (or even for the common sinner), 
especially since we are told that every regenerate 
soul "pants after holiness," and God has declared 
that all such "shall be filled." 

Here, then, we see that Mr. Wesley contradicts 
himself by teaching what he elsewhere calls "non- 



DOCTRINE OF DOUBLE-BIRTH PERFECTION. 155 

sense.'' He contradicts his assigned reason why 
God withheld— as he believed— the requisite light 
from the convert to lead him to sanctification, 
contradicts the Bible and his own general teach- 
ing on the conditionally of salvation, and finally 
contradicts his whole "second-work" theory and 
doctrine, and makes a formal surrender by saying, 
"God does in many instances the usual work of 
many years in a moment." Doubtless his object 
in making this uncomely, contradictory, anti- 
Arminian flounder and complete surrender was to 
ingratiate his doctrine, by compromise, with its 
opposers, and save it from reproach among those 
whose pious, sainted friends never professed or even 
heard of the "second-work" doctrine. 

6. Contradiction. On the manner and nature 
of the change wrought in sanctification. 

I. On the manner of the change we shall find 
Messrs. Wesley, Wood, Castle, and Paul agreeing 
against Wesley, Wood, Castle, and the entire 
school of "second-work" theologians.* 

1. Mr. Wood and Mr. Wesley testify with the 
same words, as follows : "The body of sin, the car- 
nal mind, must be destroyed; the old man must be 
slain, or we can not put on the new man, which is 

*The item of consecration belongs here ; but we have already noticed 
this in "2 Contradiction. " 



156 TWENTY-EIGHT OBJECTIONS AGAINST THE 

created after God (or which is the image of God), 
in righteousness and true holiness." (Perfect Love, 
pages 64, 65.) 

This language indicates unmistakably that (1) 
"the body of sin" must be entirely destroyed, the 
carnal mind slain before the new man can be put 
on; (2) that therefore whenever the new man is 
put on it is conclusive evidence that "the body of 
sin, the carnal mind," is destroyed. If the de- 
struction of the old must precede the putting on 
of the new, as these two divines declare, then the 
actual putting on of the new is all-sufficient evi- 
dence that the old has actually been slain and de- 
stroyed. Here these divines have beautifully 
agreed with Paul when he says, "They that are 
Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections 
and lusts." (Gal. 5 : 24.) 

Commenting on a similar scripture, in another 
place, Mr. Wesley says, "'Christ liveth in me,' 
and, <I live not,' are inseparably connected." (C. 
P., page 6.) So far these divines and Paul beauti- 
fully agree. 

2. These divines, in perfect harmony with Paul, 
clearly show us that the new man is put on in 
conversion. 

Bishop Castle makes this very clear when he 
says, "Every feature of the divine nature or im- 
age is imparted to the child of grace at regenera- 



DOCTRINE OF DOUBLE BIRTH PERFECTION. 157 

tion. Every element of the man in Christ* Jesus 
may be found in the babe in Christ*" ( Tel., June 
19, 1878.) "Every feature of the divine image" 
surely embraces the entire image. 

Mr. Wesley makes the blessed fact still plainer, 
if possible. He says, "The state of the justified 
person is inexpressibly great and glorious. He is 
born again, * * a child of God, * * an heir of the 
kingdom of heaven. The peace of God, which 
passeth all understanding, keepeth his heart and 
mind in Christ Jesus. His very body is a temple 
of the Holy Ghost, and a habitation of God. * * 
He is created anew in Christ Jesus; he is washed; 
he is sanctified. His heart is purified. He is 
cleansed from corruption. The love of God is 
shed abroad in his heart by the Holy Ghost, which 
is given unto him." (Sermons, Vol. 7., page 109.) 

Notice carefully, "He is created anew in Christ 
Jesus." This is what Messrs. Wood and Wesley 
told us can not be prior to the ntter destruction 
of the old man, the body of sin, the carnal mind. 
All right. So Paul says. Then he is purified and 
made anew. Still further he says, "He is washed; 
he is sanctified. His heart is purified. He is 
cleansed from corruption." All right. So says 
the sacred word. This also harmonizes with Mr. 



*Is the element of moral purity found in "the man in Christ Jesus V 1 
Yes ; "entirely sanctified." 



158 TWENTY-EIGHT OBJECTIONS AGAINST THE 

Wesley's language when he says, "'Christ liveth 
in me,' and, 'I live not,' are inseparably con- 
nected." 

3. It is agreed on all hands that Christ comes 
in and takes possession of the soul at the moment 
of conversion. 

4. Yet all these "second-work" divines, and 
all their followers, most tenaciously hold, in direct 
contradiction of the statements above, that the 
carnal mind is not destroyed nor the soul purified 
in regeneration. We can scarcely believe that 
sane men would so directly contradict themselves 
under any circumstances, especially when treating 
the awfully solemn subject under review. 

Mr. Wood after Mr. Wesley says, "But if there 
be no such second change, if there be no instan- 
taneous deliverance after justification, then we 
must remain full of sin till death." Again, "But 
it is seldom long before they [the regenerate] are 
undeceived, finding that sin was only suspended, 
-not destroyed. Temptations return and sin revives, 
showing that it was stunned before, and not de- 
stroyed." (P. L., pages 60, 61.) 

Mr. Wesley, speaking of the same class of per- 
sons, says, "Now they see all the hidden abomina- 
tions there, the depth of pride, self-will, and hell, 
yet having the witness in themselves, 'Thou art 
an heir of God, a joint heir with Christ." C. P., 
page 10.) 



DOCTRINE OF DOUBLE-BIRTH PERFECTION. 159 

Bishop Castle says, "Now back of all this act- 
ual, outward life-sin there is resident a natural, 
inherent, inbred corruption that remains unchang- 
ed by the process of purification from acquired 
impurity. * * It is not sin proper, in the sense of 
'sin is the transgression of the law,' but it is sin 
in the sense that 'all unrighteousness is sin/" 
(Tel, June 12, 1878.) This the thing that, ac- 
cording to the bishop's view, made the whole 
church at Corinth so bad that "the apostle would 
say that they were sinful in thought, in word, and 
in deed," and that produces in the bishop's lower 
order of Christians the conduct which arouses him 
to say, "The spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to 
envy. * * The lust of the flesh and the lust of 
the eyes and the pride of life is not of the Father, 
but is of the world. Is there no seeking of flesh- 
ly gratification, no sensual and impure desires, no 
love of parade, gaudy dress, and costly decoration 
among Christian people; no seeking of honora- 
ble distinction and loud boastings of office and 
position among Christian men, and even ministers 
of the word? Whence do these come but from 
the impurity that yet reigns within ? Indeed, this 
is so apparent that to pause for reasoning upon it 
is but to contradict a judgment that has ripened 
into unquestioned certainty." (Tel., June 19, 
1878.) Pretty hard cases for world's people these 



160 TWENTY-EIGHT OBJECTIONS AGAINST THE 

are ; but they pass among these charitable "holi- 
ness people" for second-rate Christians. 

Professor Upham says, -"They do not believe, 
certainly not as they should do, because they have 
not fully consecrated themselves to God. In oth- 
er words, they continue to indulge in some known 
sins." (Int. Li., pages 28, 29,) 

We need not further enumerate nor quote these 
authors. They unanimously hold, in contradic- 
tion to God's word, and in many instances self- 
contradiction, that the old man lives in the Chris- 
tian heart and pollutes it; or, in other terms, that 
the old carnal pollution still remains in the soul, 
and continues his pernicious struggles there after 
the soul has been "created anew in Christ Jesus." 
Paul says, "They that are Christ's have crucified 
the flesh, with the affections and lusts." These 
authors first clap their hands and shout, "That is 
so; and it is a glorious work." Afterward, com- 
ing to a recollection of the necessity of something 
for "second work" to do, they commence talking 
about "the hidden abominations, the depth of 
pride, self-will, sensuality, pride, ambition, bom- 
bast, the works of the devil, and hell," in the soul 
that "is washed, sanctified, purified, and hath open- 
ed in it the kingdom of heaven." 

How can we call such anything better than 
mixed theology? 



DOCTRINE OF DOUBLE-BIRTH PERFECTION. 161 

2. On the nature of the change wrought in 
the supposed second work we shall find a woful 
contradiction. 

1. Many of these divines tell us that there is 
nothing new obtained in the "second work," but 
only an increase of what was begun in conversion. 
Bishop Castle's Highway of Holiness, April, 1879, 
says, "Every one who is reasonably well versed 
in the theoi^y of entire sanctification, as received 
by us, knows that the advocates of holiness do 
not uphold a second birth, but a blessing after the 
birth." (Page 91.) 

This brings it down to a smaller magnitude than 
they generally attach to the imaginary, wonderful 
thing. Yet they generally consider it in the light 
of simply an increase of the same thing. 

2. But in this they vastly differ from their fa- 
ther, Mr. Wesley. He, as we have seen in co- 
pious quotations, places a higher estimate and 
pronounces a higher eulogium on the moral con- 
dition and character acquired in regeneration than 
most of them do ; perhaps than they all do. And 
yet he doubtless excels them all in drawing a con- 
trast between the regenerate soul and the perfect- 
ed soul, according to his view of the change that 
brings it to perfection. 

Mr. Wesley says, "In that instant he lives the 

full life of love. And as the change undergone 
li 



162 TWENTY-EIGHT OBJECTIONS AGAINST THE 

when the body dies is of a different kind and in- 
finitely greater than any we had known before, 
yea, such as till then it is impossible to conceive' 
so the change wrought when the soul dies to sin 
is of a different kind and infinitely greater than 
any before, and than any can conceive till he ex- 
perience it." (C. P., page 23.) 

"Of a different kind and infinitely greater." 
Not the same thing at all ; nor w T ill the other bear 
any comparison. The finite bears no comparison 
with the infinite. But did Mr. Wesley really 
mean anything like this? My business is not to 
tell you what he meant, but to place before you 
his utterances, and allow you the pleasure of de- 
termining from his words what he meant, if you 
can, or at least deciding whether you have suffi- 
cient reason to conclude that he had a definite 
opinion as to what he meant. I know this, how- 
ever, that he called it, as we have seen, a birth. I 
know, too, that his admiring pupil, Dr. Fletcher, 
after Mr. Wesley, said, "This birthday of the 
Spirit of love in our souls, whenever we attain, 
will feast our souls with such peace and joy in 
God as will blot out the remembrance of every- 
thing that we called peace or joy before." (Scott's 
Chris. Per/., page 63.) Of course, this would lead 
us to the conclusion that it is another moral or 
spiritual birth. But this is nothing "of a differ- 



DOCTRINE OF DOUBLE-BIRTH PERFECTION. 163 

ent kind from anything before," though it would 
certainly be a very great affair, — first be born 
anew, and then to be born still newer. But the 
re-regenerating agent is supposed to be the same 
in both cases; so also the subject. And the gen- 
eral understanding appears to be that the work or 
process is purely of a moral character in both cases. 
How, then, can the doctor reach the opinion that 
it is "of a different kind ?" This is especially mys- 
terious when we consider it in connection with the 
definition which Mr. Wesley gives of the state 
into which the change, as he supposes, brings the 
soul. He defines it thus : "Christian perfection is 
pure love filling the heart and governing all the 
words and actions. * * Pure love reigning alone 
in the heart and life, this is the whole of Chris- 
tian perfection." (C. P., page 22.) Love is cer- 
tainly a moral act, quality, or element. God is 
love. And this same Mr. Wesley teaches us that 
God commences to reign in the heart at the mo- 
ment of conversion when he tells us, of the con- 
vert, "He is a child of God, a member of Christ. 
The peace of God, that passeth all understanding, 
keepeth his heart and mind in Christ Jesus. His 
very body is a temple of the Holy Ghost, and a 
habitation of God. He is created anew in Christ 
Jesus; he is washed; he is sanctified. His heart 
is purified by faith ; he is clean from the corrup- 



164 TWENTY-EIGHT OBJECTIONS AGAINST THE 

tion that is in the world. The love of god is shed 
abroad in his heart by the Holy Ghost, which is 
given unto him. * * He keepeth the commandments 
of God, and doeth those things that are pleasing in 
his sight, so exercising himself as to have a con- 
science void of offense toward God and toward 
man ; and he has power both over outward and 
inward sin, even from the moment of his justifica- 
tion/' (Sermons, Vol. L, page 109.) 

Unless we suppose God and Beelzebub reigning 
in peaceful concert, unless we suppose there can 
be communion between light and darkness, and 
sweet harmony between Christ and Belial, we can 
not imagine a soul in the moral state here pre- 
sented to our view by Mr. Wesley without the 
l ove _the pure love— of God "reigning alone in 
the heart and life." God has none but pure love. 
This Mr. Wesley, in perfect harmony with Paul, 
declares is shed abroad in the heart at the moment 
of conversion. The Holy Ghost is given him. 
He is a temple of God. He keepeth his com- 
mandments, &c. Whenever a soul does this, God 
reigns in that soul. God's commandments require 
perfection of moral character. They can not be 
kept without it. How, then, can Mr. Wesley im- 
agine that the soul acquires a state of & different 
kind at the time of his imaginary second re-birth? 
Thus we see that there is a yawning disparity be- 



DOCTRINE OF DOUBLE-BIRTH PERFECTION. 165 

tween Mr. Wesley's views and very many of his 
pupils. Not only so; but there is avast incon- 
sistency between his definition of Christian per- 
fection and his wild declaration that "the change 
wrought when the soul dies to sin is of a differ- 
ent kind" from that wrought in regeneration. 
His statements are so thoroughly inconsistent and 
contradictory that we can not receive them at all, 
only as we see they agree with the sacred word. 
He is not a safe and reliable teacher in theology. 
We must look at God's word for ourselves, think 
for ourselves, and constantly beg of the eternal 
Source of all light, life, and truth to quicken our 
understanding and lead us in a plain path. These 
contradictory divines will lead us into unfathom- 
able mists and darkness if we undertake to follow 
them. Blessed Redeemer, guide our erring feet, 
and save us from the mazes of the mixed theol- 
ogy. Amen. 

7. Contradiction. On the conditionally or 
fatality of full salvation. 

The sacred Scriptures clearly teach the condi- 
tionally of salvation. "When a frightened jailor 
cries out, "What shall I do to be saved?" we nev- 
er hear an inspired teacher saying, "Hold, sir, just 
be quiet; you can not be lost. All men will final- 
ly be happy in heaven." No such language ever 



166 TWENTY-EIGHT OBJECTIONS AGAINST THE 

came from inspired lips or pen. They answer 
such interrogatories on thiswise: "Believe on the 
Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved." 
(Paul.) "He will save you because you trust in 
him." (David.) "Repent and believe the gos- 
pel." "By grace are ye saved through faith." 
"He that believeth not shall be damned." "If 
thou seek. him, he will be found of thee; but if 
thou forsake him, he will cast thee off forever."* 
Such is the tenor of God's word. There is no 
arbitrary, unconditional salvation. "As I live, 
saith the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death 
of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his 
way and live : turn ye, turn ye from your evil 
ways ; for why will ye die ?"f There are four im- 
aginable methods, on one of which the divine 
government may be imagined to proceed with re- 
spect to the lost soul: 1. To save all uncondition- 
ally; 2. two reject all unconditionally; 3. to save 
a part and reject the rest, unconditionally; or, 4. 
% to save conditionally all who comply, and reject 
the rest for non-compliance. 

1. If God should adopt the plan of saving^" 
all unconditionally he would thereby offer the 
highest imaginable premium on perpetual rebell- 
ion. A holy being never can do th is. He could 

*L Chron.28:9. 

tEzekiel33: 11. 

^Unconditional recovery out of pollution can not be imagined. 



DOCTRINE OF DOUBLE-BIRTH PERFECTION. 167 

not keep a heaven, no*r make any really happy. 
All would be perpetually apprehensive of the in- 
auguration of some disastrous policy or project 
to run uncontrolled in a universe where rebellion 
and crime w r ere at a premium. Moreover, some 
would have to be saved contrary to their will, 
which is absurd. Moral qualities can not be 
forced. Harmony among rational beings must be 
voluntary. Forced harmony of wills aud volitions 
can not be imagined. Such an idea as plurality 
of wills harmonized under pressure of coercion 
can not be cogitated. No mind can think it. 
The essential nature of will is the power of self- 
decision or self-determination — choice. There 
can be no self-determination or choice under co- 
ercion. A forced voluntary act can not occur. 

Salvation does not consist in locality. Resi- 
dence in heaven without a heart wedded to holi- 
ness would not be salvation; and holiness is neces- 
sarily a vouluntary state of soul. No mechanism 
can ever beget holiness in a soul without its own 
voluntary choice and concurrence. 

2. To reject all unconditionally would render 
all investigation, inquiry, reasoning, conclusion, 
and action utterly nugatory and useless. 

3. If God should propose to save some uncon- 
ditionally and rejects others unconditionally, then 
(1) there would meet him the same insurmounta- 



168 TWENTY-EIGHT OBJECTIONS AGAINST THE 

• 

ble difficulties as in undertaking to save all un- 
conditionally. (2) It would be utterly useless for 
any finite being to concern himself about the 
matter of salvation in any sense, because he could 
in no wise affect his own case or that of any oth- 
er one, for good or for ill. (3) The universe would 
be shocked from center to circumference with the 
contemplation of God's partiality. If he could 
unconditionally, arbitrarily save one, he could do 
so with all. If he allow one soul to be lost which 
he could have saved, his goodness stands impeach- 
ed. Infinite goodness does all the good it can. 
God's might has no mechanical limit; but it is 
constantly limited by the boundary of moral pro- 
priety. Moral excellency and beauty never pass 

that ; never can, and continue the same.* 

The conditionally of salvation is so obvious 
that all authors on "second work" recognize it. 

Consecration and faithf are the conditions upon 
which they all claim the inestimable gift is sus- 
pended. Consecration and trust are doubtless 
identical, when theologically considered. Sub- 
mission, consecration, and trust mutually involve 
each other. These theologians all declare that 



**'He could there do no mighty work," &c (Mark 6 : 5.) Why not? 
Unbelief bounded propriety. 

fUpham. 



DOCTRINE OF DOUBLE-BIRTH PERFECTION. 169 

justification and sanctification are conditioned on 
consecration and faith.* 

Mr. Wesley says, "He, therefore, who liveth in 
these Christians hath purified their hearts by 
faith. * * God hath now laid the ax unto the root 
of the tree, purifying their hearts by faith. (C. 
P., pages 6, 8.) 

Dr. Wood says, "There is no sanctification 
without entire consecration. Consecration, which 
is your work, * * is not sanctification; but it in- 
variably precedes it, and ever afterward accom- 
panies it. * * You must consecrate yourself in 
detail, and get every item upon the altar. In or- 
der to grasp the whole you must take in the items.f 
* * The consecration must be perfect before the 

offering will be received. God will have a thor- 
ough work, and purity will never be given or re- 
tained but on condition of entire, universal, uncon- 
ditional abandonment of all sin, and acceptance 
and approval of all the will of God." (P. L., 
page 79.) 

*Faith and consecration are the order when the two ideas are em- 
ployed. Trust is the better word. 

fA full consecration of the soul must, as we have seen, precede con- 
version in all cases. This self-consecration necessarily includes all 
possessions, as you own a man's property if you own the man, whether 
all the items are counted or not, A man's possessions go with his per- 
son. Afterward many take back small items. God is displeased with 
breach of contract and self-rule ; that is, rebellion. The soul tries to 
believe all is well, drags along in cold forms, becomes alarmed, com- 
mences God's service in earnest, itemizes the offering, regains salva- 
tion, and (if under second-work instruction) calls it "the second 
WORK/' while God calls it "thejirrt workand first love.*' (See Rev. 2 : 4, 5.) 



170 TWENTY-EIGHT OBJECTIONS AGAINST THE 

Bishop Castle says, "To obtain pardon the sin- 
ner must cease from his rebellion, and possess the 
spirit of fall and complete loyalty to the govern- 
ment/' etc. Again he says, "The fact is, Christ 
is only unto his people what they by faith in ev- 
ery instance make him." Tel. April 30, 1879.) 

We need not quote further. They all agree, at 
one time or another, in affirming the conditional- 
ly of salvation in all its phases. But let us now 
see whether they all agree with themselves or 
not. It may be that we shall find them all agree- 
ing to disagree with all. 

1. They all agree that "without holiness no 
man shall see God." 

2. They all agree that an unholy man — that is, 
their unholy "merely justified" man, "fall of sin 
and hell," — has a first-class title to heaven. 

3. They all agree that he will be sure to get 
there, unless he backslides before death. Bishop 
Castle says, "A sister once said to me, 'I do not 
profess sanctification. If I were to die would I 
be saved?' 'Certainly,' I said, 'if you maintain 
your justification.' " (Tel, June 26, 1878.) Again 
he says, "There is quite a difference between hav- 
ing a title to an inheritance and being fitted for 
actual entrance upon that inheritance. 'But,' 
says one, 'where will one go if he dies in simply 
a justified state?' To heaven, to be sure, as in 



DOCTRINE OF DOUBLE-BIRTH PERFECTION. 171 

the case of the child. God will never turn inno- 
cence away." ( Tel, Jan. 22, 1879.) 

Dr. Wood after Dr. Fletcher, speaking of the 
"merely regenerate" soul, says, "And were he 
to die at midnight, before midnight God would 
certainly bring him to Christian perfection, or 
bring Christian perfection to him." (P. L., page 

320.) 

Mr. Wesley says, "God usually gives a consid- 
erable time for men to receive light to grow in 
grace, to do and suffer his will, before they are 
either justified or sanctified.* But he does not 
invariably adhere to this. Sometimes he cuts 
short his work. He does the work of many years 
in a few weeks, perhaps in a week, a day, an 
hour. He justifies, or sanctifies, both those who 
have done or suffered nothing, and who have not 
had time for a gradual growth, either in light or 
grace. And may he not do what he will with his 
own? Is thine eye evil because he is good? It 
need not, therefore, be affirmed over and over, and 
proved by forty texts of scripture, either that 
most men are perfect in love at last, that there is 
a gradual work of God in the soul, or that, gener- 
ally speaking, it is a long time, even many years, 
before sin is destroyed. All this we know. But 

*Here are two remarkable assumptions. : 1. That man can grow in 
grace while in rebellion against God. 2. That an unconverted soul 
can do the will of God, and often does so. 



172 TWENTY-EIGHT OBJECTIONS AGAINST THE 

we know likewise that God may, with man's good 
leave, cut short his work, in whatever degree he 
pleases, and do the usual work of many years in 
a moment. He does so in many instances." (C. 

P., page 89.) 

1. Here we have before us the doctrine that in 
some instances God requires men to "do and suffer 
his will" for many years before he is pleased to 
come and give them clean hearts. 

2. That in many instances he cats short his work, 
and does the usual work of many years in a mo- 
ment, without regard to the rule of "giving con- 
siderable time for men to receive light to grow in 
grace, to do and suffer his will." 

3. Here is a representation of an arbitrary 
government, in which no uniformity is observed in 
regard to conditions of salvation. Some are re- 
quired to meet certain conditions, but many are 
not. And some do not get the conditioned bless- 
ing even when they meet the conditions. 

* 4. Thus it appears that salvation, according to 
these divines, is not uniformly conditioned, only 
in some cases. Evidently these divines are blessed 
with very poor memories, or else they have very 
little regard for consistency. At one time they 
tell us that God invariably requires a thoroughly 
itemized, complete consecration, or doing and suf- 
fering his will for many years before he is pleased 



DOCTRINE OF DOUBLE-BIRTH PERFECTION. 173 

to bestow the conditioned salvation. At another 
time they have him "cutting short the usual work 
of many years in a moment/' without regard to 
conditions of auy kind. Surely such theology is 
more than moderately mixed. 

It is no relief to the case to say that Mr. Wes- 
ley throws in the explanatory clause, "By man's 
good leave;" for by it the arbitrariness is made 
more distinctly obvious. It compels the inquiry, 
"Does God carry on the work of moral improve- 
ment— purification— in the hearts of many, through 
a course of "many years," arbitrarily and regard- 
less of "their good leave?" Or, supposing they 
give "their good leave," then does he yet with- 
hold the blessing through the many long years in 
which they are "doing and suffering his will," 
while in some arbitrarily chosen cases "he cuts 
short the work of many years in a moment, with- 
out any reason excepting that he chooses to do for 
some, "with their good leave," simply what he 
will not do for others, with not only "their 
good leave," but also with their many good long 
years of "doing and suffering his will?" It will 
not clo now to talk about withholding the light 
through these years, "lest the soul should fail be- 
fore him, and the spirit which he had made;" for 
this item of theology has now become obsolete 
with Mr. Wesley, since he has found out that God 



174 TWENTY-EIGHT OBJECTIONS AGAINST THE 

can, and "in many instances does cut short the 
usual work of many years in a moment." 

Will the reader do some calm, steady, prayerful 
thinking while we track up these divines to see 
Just how they ct?me to see the absolute necessity 
of applying the doctrine of unconditional salva- . . 
tion to adults under the light of the gospel. Their 
nuptials with the double moral birth doctrine be- 
fogged them and led them away. 

1. They know that every justified soul is a 
child of God, born into his family. 

2. They know that all God's children are in 
possession of a good title — even a joint title with 
Christ — to an inheritance in heaven. 

3. They know that it will never do to say that 
the child of God, dying in the justified state, can 
miss that blessed abode. This would be too 
troublesome to manage. 

4. Yet it will not do to admit that the "mere- 
y regenerate" soul is fit for heaven ; for this would 
eave no necessity for "second work," and so lay 

their cause in hopeless ruin. 

5. It is undeniably true that multitudes have 
lived many years in the consistent, undisputed, 
and indisputable profession of salvation, and died 
without professing the second work. Others have 
died in a very short time after conversion without 
the second work. 



*v 



DOCTRINE OF DOUBLE-BIRTH PERFECTION. 175 

6. Here, then, are two classes of cases who, 
according to these divines, left the world bearing 
a first-class title to the glorious mansions in heav- 
en, and yet without the fitness to enjoy them. 

7. Here, now, is a theological emergency. 
These souls are to be sent to heaven under pecul- 
iar circumstances. (1) Their title dare not be 
questioned, admitting that they were children of 
God, seeing Paul declare, "If children, then heirs; 
heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ" (Rom. 
8: 17.) (2) If their purity and fitness for heaven 
be acknowledged, then it will never do again to 
say, "But if there be no 'such second change, if 
there be no instantaneous deliverance after justifi- 
cation, if there be none but a gradual work, then 
we must be content, as best we can, to remain ful 
of sin to death." (3) It is too late when the soul 
is crossing the boundary between time and eterni- 
ty to apply Dr. "Wood's rule of an itemized con- 
secration in order to obtain the "second work," 
especially when the soul is in "blissful ignorance" 
of any such necessity. The doctor says, "You 
must consecrate yourself in detail, and get every 
item on the altar. In order to grasp the whole, 
you must take in the items. * * The consecration 
must be perfect before the offering will be receiv- 
ed." But it is too late to apply this rule when the 
soul is in the act of passing into the unseen. 



176 TWENTY-EIGHT OBJECTIONS AGAINST THE , 

What is to be done for these dying millions 
with their titles to heaven and their moral fitness 

for hell?* 

One of four things must be done : (1) Millions 

of souls in possession of number one titles to 
mansions in heaven must be sent to hell; (2) God 
must set aside his rule requiring holiness as a 
moral fitness for heaven ; (3) the conditionality 
of sanctification-that is, moral purity,— must be 
set aside in such cases, and the work accomplish- 
ed by the Holy One unconditionally, for adults as 
well as for infants; or, (4) the double moral birth 
doctrine must fall to rise no more. 

But it will never do to say that souls are sent to 
hell in possession of warranty titles to seats in heav- 
en. Neither will it do to say that polluted souls, full 
of pride, self-will, lasciviousness and envy, carnal, 
sold under sin, are admitted into the courts of 
glory, and constitute a considerable percentage of 
the nopulation there. It is too late for a man to 
take an inventory of his possessions and make 
out an infallibly correct list of the items to be con- 
secrated, and consecrate them and himself specif- 
ically for consecration as a distinct and separate 
work, when he is dying, especially if he knows 

*"Now they see all the hidden abominations there, the depth of pride 
Wesley, page 10) 



DOCTRINE OF DOUBLE-BIRTH PERFECTION. 177 

nothing of such necessity. In fact, it is too late 
to comply with conditions of any sort, for any 

purpose. 

But the conditionally of full salvation must 
therefore be set aside, or the second-work theory 
must fall. They can not both stand in these mill- 
ions of cases before us. If one is affirmed the 

other must fall. 

How does Mr. Wesley dispose of this awfully 
critical case, and provide for the theological 
emergency? Well, he simply takes his ingenious 
theological pen, steps over into the soil of the 
rigid fatalist, shakes hands with the natives there, 
looks back on the fair fields of Arminius with a 
wistful stare, and petulantly says, "And may he 
not do what he will with his own f Is thine eye evil be- 
cause he is good? It need not therefore be affirm- 
ed over and over, and proved by forty texts of 
scripture, either that most men are perfect in love 
at last, &c. All this we know. But we know- 
likewise that God may, with man's good leave, 
cut short his work, in whatever degree he pleases, 
and do the usu^l work of many years in a mo- 
ment. He does so in many instances." 

Thus these divines are obliged to affirm and do 
affirm the unconditional salvation of adults under 
the light of the gospel. At one time Bishop Cas- 
tle says, "The fact is, Christ is only unto his peo- 



12 



178 TWENTY-EIGHT OBJECTIONS AGAINST THE 

pie what they by faith in every instance make 
him." Again he says, "Where will one go if he 
dies in simply a justified state ? To heaven, to be 
sure, as in the case of the child."* Dr. Wood re- 
quires a perfectly itemized consecration of all be- 
fore the sacrifice can be accepted. Yet Mr. Wes- 
ley finds that this rule must be suspended in the 
case of the great majority of Christians. 

So go their contradictions of the Bible and of 
one another. Finally, each one contradicts all, 
himself included. Nine tenths of their followers 
have but a very faint idea of the items included in 
their chosen theory. This fact nerves me with 
patient solicitude to drag out the nauseating items 
that must be dragged out in this review. But we 
must now take our leave of this part of our sub- 
ject. 

OBJECTION 24. 

IT HAS NO SUPPORT IN THE SACKED SCRIPTURES WHERE 
ITS ERIENDS PRETEND TO FIND IT. 

1. Scripture.— Bom. 7 : 14-25. 

"For we know that the law is spiritual : but I am car- 
nal, sold under sin. ■ For that which I do, I allow not : 
for what I would, that do I not ; but what I hate, that 
do I. If then I do that which I would not, I consent 

*If God can do the work unconditionally at last why can he not at 
first? Ah, that would kill our pet. That would never do. 



DOCTRINE OF DOUBLE-BIRTH PERFECTION, 179 

unto the law that it is good. Now then it is no more I 
that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. For I know that 
in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing : for 
to will is present with me ; but how to perform that which 
is good 1 find not. For the good that I would, I do 
not : but the evil which I would not, that 1 do. Now if 
I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin 
that dwelleth in me. I find then a law, that, when I 
would do good, evil is present with me. For I delight in 
the law of God after the inward man : * but 1 see another 
law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, 
and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is 
in my members. wretched man. that I ami who shall 
deliver me from the body of this death? I thank God 
through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind 
I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law 
of sin. f" 

[Let us append the next two verses for conven- 
ience; also the ninth verse of the same chapter.] 
"There is therefore now no condemnation to them 
which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the 
flesh, but after the Spirit. For the law of the 
spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free 
from the law of sin and death. * * * But ye 
are not in the flesh, but in the spirit, if so be that 
the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man 

*Our judgment and conscience always approve the law of God who 
made both law and conscience. 

fl have quoted all, for fairness and convenience to the Scripture- 
loving reader. God's word is best. 



180 TWENTY-EIGHT OBJECTIONS AGAINST THE 

have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his." 
The Spirit of God is the Spirit of Christ, the Holy 
Spirit, the Holy Ghost, the Spirit of truth, the 
Comforter, the Spirit of burning, &e. All the 
same. He who is destitute of this is not in Christ, 
nor of Christ— "none of his." Blessed Jesus, 
dwell in our hearts perpetually through the mer- 
its of thy blood. Amen. See also just here an- 
other word from Paul: "They that are Christ's 
have crucified the flesh with the affections and 

lusts." (Gal. 5: 24.) 

This scripture of our present text (Horn. 7 : 14- 
25) has been claimed in support of their favorite 
doctrines by two widely opposite schools of theo- 
logiaus. It is a favorite in equally high esteem 
among Calvinists, who say, "We can never be 
free from sin in this life," and among double- 
birth Arminians, holding that "if there be no in- 
stantaneous deliverance after justification, we must 
remain full of sin till death.". Here, it is claimed 
by these two schools, is abundant support of the 
idea that a man can be, as Bishop Castle worded 
it, taking the twenty-fifth verse as his specific ba- 
sis, "half sinner and half Christian." Here these 
opposite schools fondly embrace one another, and 
stand on common ground, although they are in 
their practical working, as far apart as noon and 
night. 



DOCTRINE OF DOUBLE-BIRTH PERFECTION. 181 

As we are not reviewing Calvinists, but the 
double-birth doctrine, and as we have a rule to 
present only such testimony as they can not with 
good grace reject, we shall here present the rea 
soilings of one of their favorite and representative 
men, the pious Dr. Asa Mahan, ex-president of 
Oberlin and of Adrian colleges. The president 

says : 

"The bearing of this passage upon the doctrine 
under consideration [the attainability of moral 
purity in this life] depends upon the question 
whether the apostle is describing the state of the 
Christian under the gospel, or of the sinner under 
the law, and acted upon by legal motives only. 
In favor of this [the former] supposition, two, and 
only two considerations deserving notice have, to 
my knowledge, been adduced. 

"1. The present is here used, <I am carnal,' &c; 
showing, it is said, that the apostle is describing 
his present character as a Christian. 

"In answer to this L remark, (1. That it is per- 
fectly common for the sacred writers to use this 
tense in describing not only past, but future 
events. (2. The present tense was demanded in 
this instance, inasmuch as the design of the apos- 
tle is to describe his own, and the state of every 
other person under the exclusive action of legal 
motives, in opposition to their state under the 



182 TWENTY-EIGHT OBJECTIONS AGAINST THE 

gospel. Under the former he says, 'I am (and of 
course every other man is) 'carnal, sold' (a bond- 
slave) 'under sin.' Under the latter, chapter 8 : 2, 
'I am free from the law of sin and death.' Thus 
said Whitefield, as a drunkard was reeling before 
him, 'There is George Whitefield, but for the grace 
of God.' Supposing the apostle here to be de- 
scribing his state as a sinner under the law, the 
present tense is demanded just as much as if he 
were describing his state as a Christian. 

"2. The language used by the apostle in this 
passage, it is said, is applicable to the Christian 
only. For example, 'I delight in the law of God 
after the inward man.' 'That which I do, I allow 
not.' 'What I hate, that I do/ &c. To this I an- 
swer (1. That language equally strong is applied 
to the sinner in other parts of the Bible. 'And 
lo, thou art unto them as a very lovely song of 
one that hath a pleasant voice, and can play well 
on an instrument: for they hear thy words, but 
they do them not.' (Ezekiel 33 : 32.) , 'Yet they 
seek me daily, and delight to know my ways, as a 
nation that did righteousness, and forsook not the 
ordinance of their God : they ask of me the ordi- 
nances of justice; they take delight in approach- 
ing to God.' (Isaiah 58: 2.) 'He was a burning 
and a shining light and ye were willing: for a 
season to rejoice in his light.' (John 5: 35.) 



DOCTRINE OF DOUBLE-BIRTH PERFECTION. 183 

'Behold, thou art called a Jew, and restest in the 
law, and makest thy boast of God, and knowest 
his will, and approvest the things that are more 
excellent, being instructed out of the law.' (Rom. 
2: 17, 18.) Many other passages of similar im- 
port might be cited. With what propriety, I ask, 
can the language used in Romans 7, be cited as 
proof that the sinner can not there be referred to, 
when language equally strong is so frequently ap- 
plied to him in other parts of the Bible? 

"(2. Precisely similar language was at this time 
in common use among the heathen, and by them 
applied to meu as sinners. 'He that sins,' says 
one, 'does not what he would; but what he would 
not, that he does.' 'I see the good,' says another, 
'and approve it, but follow the bad.' 'I have for- 
gotten none of the things about which you ad- 
monished me, but, though I have a desire to do 
them, nature struggles against it.' 'I knew that 
it was becoming, but me miserable. I could not 
do it.' Such is the language common with those 
very heathen converts to whom the apostle was 
writing, and applied by them to sinners as such. 
On what principle, I ask, is it asserted that they 
would understand this language, in opposition to 
all previous usage, as applicable to the Christian 
only? We will now consider a few of the rea- 
sons in favor of the supposition that the sinner 



184 TWENTY-EIGHT OBJECTIONS AGAINST THE 

under the action of legal influences, and not the 
Christian under the gospel, is the subject of the 
apostle's remarks in this passage. 

"1. It was so understood by the entire primitive 
church for the first two or three centuries after 
the epistle was written. This none, I believe, ac- 
quainted with the records of the primitive church 
will deny. Did the entire church, who received 
the passage directly from the apostle, mistake his 

meaning ? 

"2. The supposition that the Christian is here 
referred to, places what the apostle says of him- 
self, as a Christian, in this passage and elsewhere, 
in palpable and irreconcilable contradiction to each 
other. In the state here described, the apostle 
says of himself,* 'I am carnal, sold under sin/ that 
is, a bond-slave under the power of sin, as the 
slave is under the absolute control of his master. 
"We might here ask, Is this the Christian ? Again, 
'The good that I would,'— that is, approve,— 'I do 
* not, but the evil that I would not,— that is, disap- 
prove,— 'that I do.' <I find, then, a law,' an in- 
variable order of sequence,— for such only is law, 
—'that when I would do good, evil is present with 
me.' Speaking of himself as a Christian, the 
apostle says, 'I keep my body under, and bring it 
into subjection.' Again, 'The li fe that I now live 

*0n the supposition that he is speaking of himself. 



DOCTRINE OF DOUBLE-BIRTH PERFECTION. 185 

in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God.' 
Are these states compatible? Are they one and 
the same ? Again, the Christian is represented in 
the Bible as 'overcoming the world.' The indi- 
vidual here referred to is invariably overcome by 
the world. Are these characters identical? Again, 
in the state here described, the apostle declares 
himself to be in 'captivity to the law of sin and 
death.' In chapter 8: 2, he says, that as a Chris- 
tian he is free from that very law. How can an 
individual be captive under a law, and be free 
from that law at one and the same time? 

"Once more. In a state here referred to the 
apostle says, 'I am carnal.' In chapter 8 : 9, he 
declares absolutely that every real Christian is 
'not in the flesh,' that is, carnal, 'but in the Spirit.' 
How can these states be identical? 

"3. If the apostle has described the condition 
of the' Christian under the gospel, in the passage 
under consideration, he has defeated his own ob- 
ject by showing that the gospel is equally impor- 
tant with the law in producing holiness of heart, 
the opposite of which he designed to show. The 
law convicts of sin, and then leaves the subject in 
bondage under sin. What more does the gospel, 
if the Christian also is 'carnal, sold under sin?' 

"Well might the Jews ask, in view of such a 
presentation of the power of the gospel, What ad- 



186 TWENTY-EIGHT OBJECTIONS AGAINST THE 

vantage hath the Christian, and what profit is 
there in faith in Christ, as far as holiness is con- 
cerned? Do the motions of sin, which are by the 
law work in my members to bring forth fruit 
unto death? So is the Christian by the same in- 
fluence precisely, 'brought into captivity to the 
law of sin, which is in his members.' Am I in 
the flesh ? The Christian also is carnal. Am I 
in bondage under the power of sin? The Chris- 
tian alsd is a bond-slave, 'sold under sin.' Do 
I 'approve of things which are more excellent,' 
and delight to know God and the ordinances of 
rio-hteousness, and at the same time remain in a 
state of disobedience to Cod? The Christian also 
'delights in the law of the Lord, after the inward 
man,' without obeying that law. 'The good that 
he would, that he does not; but the evil that he 
would not, that he does.' How could the apostle, 
by such a train of reasoning as this, convince the 
Jew that in depending upon the law for sanetifl- 
cation as well as for justification, he was a sinner 
leaning upon a broken reed, and that the gospel 
alone not only justifies but sanctifies the sinner? 
"4. The apostle, in the passage before us, de- 
clares expressly that he refers to his state as a bin* 
ner. 'In me, that is in my flesh,' that is, m my 
carnal, unrenewed state, 'dwelleth no good thing.' 
«5. The individual here described is, by the 



DOCTRINE OF DOUBLE-BIRTH PERFECTION. 187 

apostle's own showing, totally depraved. Not- 
withstanding all the opposition w r hieh the law of 
God and the law of his mind make to sin, he in- 
variably practices it on all occasions and under all 
circumstances. If such a state does not indicate 
the entire absense of holiness, nothing can do it. 
The whole matter is summed up by the apostle in 
verse twenty-live — 'So, then, with the mind I my- 
self serve the law of God'; but with the flesh the 
law of sin.' That is, in the language of Professor 
Stuart, 'While my mind, that is, my reason and 
conscience, takes part with the law of God, and 
approves its sanctions, my carnal part obtains the 
predominance and brings me into a state of con- 
demnation and ruin/" {Scriptural Doctrine of 
Christian Perfection. Discourse III.) 

The double-birth theologians have done what 
they could to capture the profound Dr. Adam 
Clarke. Let us therefore hear him on this famous 
seventh chapter of Romans. His words will surely 
be acceptable with them since (according to their 
representations) he is of their school. In his 
comments on verse fourteen, the doctor says, 
"'But I am carnal, sold under sin'. * * j ^q. 
lieve it is agreed on all hands, that the apostle is 
here demonstrating the insufficiency of the law, in 
opposition to the gospel. That by the former is 
the knowledge, by the latter the cure of sin. 



188 TWENTY-EIGHT OBJECTIONS AGAINST THE 

Therefore by I here he can not mean himself nor 
any Christian believer. If the contrary could be 
proved, the argument of the apostle would go to 
demonstrate the insufficiency of the gospel as well 

as the law. . . 

"It is difficult to conceive how the opinion 
could have crept into the church or prevailed 
there, that 'the apostle speaks here of his regener- 
ate state; and that what was in such a state true 
of himself, must be true of all others in the same 
state.' This opinion has, most pitifully and most 
shamefully, not only lowered the standard of 
Christianity, but destroyed its influence and dis- 
graced its character. It requires but little knowl- 
edge of the spirit of the gospel and of the scope 
of this epistle to see that the apostle is here either 
personating a Jew under the law and without the 
gospel, or showing what his own state was when 
he was deeply convinced that by the deeds of the 
law no man could be justified, and had not as yet 
heard those blessed words, 'Brother Saul, the Lord 
Jesus that appeared unto thee in the way hath 
sent me that thou nrightest receive thy sight and 
be filled with the Holy Ghost.' (Acts 9 : 17.) 

"In this and the following verses he states the 
contrarietv between himself or any Jew, while 
without Christ and the law of God. Of the latter 
he says, it is spiritual ; of the former, I am carnal, 



DOCTRINE OF LOUBLE-BIRTH PERFECTION. 189 

sold under sin. If the carnal man, in opposition 
to the spiritual, never was a more complete or ac- 
curate description given. The expressions in the 
flesh and after the flesh, in verse five, and in chap- 
ter 8: 5, 8, 9, &c, are of the same import with 
the word carnal in this verse. To be in the flesh, 
or to be carnally-minded, solely respects the unre- 
generate. * * Those who are of another opin- 
ion, maintain that by the word carnal here the 
apostle meant that corruption which dwelt in him 
after his conversion ; but this opinion is founded 
on a very great mistake. * * * Whatever 
epithets are given to corruption or sin in script- 
ure, opposite epithets are given to grace or holi- 
ness. By these different epithets are the unre- 
generate and regenerate denominated. From all 
this it follows that the epithet carnal, which is 
the characteristic designation of an unregenerate 
man, can not be applied to St. Paul after his con- 
version; nor indeed to any Christian in that state. 
"But the word carnal, though used by the apos- 
tle to signify a state of death and enmity against 
God, is not sufficient to denote all the evil of the 
state which he is describing; hence he adds, sold 
under sin. This is one of the strongest expres- 
sions which the Spirit of God uses in scripture to 
describe the full depravity of fallen man. It im- 
plies a willing slavery. Ahab had sold himself 



190 TWENTY-EIGHT OBJECTIONS AGAINST THE 

to work evil. * * Now if the word carnal, in its 
strongest sense, had been sufficiently significant 
of all he meant, why add to this charge another 
expression still stronger? We must therefore 
understand the phrase sold under sin as implying 
that the soul was employed in the drudgery of 
sin; that it was sold over to this service, and had 
no power to disobey this tyrant until it was re- 
deemed by another. And if a man be actually 
sold to another, and he acquiesce in the deed, then 
he becomes the legal property of that other per- 
son. This state of bondage was well known to 
the Romans. The sale of slaves they saw daily, 
and could not misunderstand the emphatical sense 
of this expression. Sin is here represented as a 
person ; and the apostle compares the dominion 
which sin has over the man in question to that of 
a master over his legal slave. Universally through 
the Scriptures man is said to be in a state of bond- 
age to sin until the Son of God makes him free; 
but in no part of the sacred writings is it ever said 
that the children of God are sold under sin. Christ 
came to deliver the lawful captive, and take away 
the prey from the mighty. Whom the Son mak- 
eth free, they are free indeed. Then they yield 
not up their members as instruments of unright- 
eousness unto sin ; for sin shall not have the do- 
minion over them, because the law of the Spirit 



DOCTRINE OF DOUBLE-BIRTH PERFECTION. 191 

of life in Christ Jesus has made them free from 
the law of sin and death. (Chap. 6 : 13, 14, and 8 : 
2.) * * Verse 15 — 'For that which I do I allow 
not/ &c. * * What I am continually laboring at, 
I allow not; I do not acknowledge to be right, just, 
holy, or profitable. 

"But what I hate, that do I.] I am a slave, 
and under the absolute control of my tyrannical 
master. I hate his service, but am obliged to 
work his will. Who, without blasphemy, can as- 
sert that the apostle is speaking this of a man in 
whom the Spirit of the Lord dwells? * * It is 
evident that those two principles, residing and 
counteracting each other in the same person, are 
reason and lust. * * And it is very easy to distin- 
guish these two Fs, or principles, in every part of 
the elegant description of iniquity domineering 
over the light and remonstrances of reason. For 
instance, verse 17: 'Now, then, it is no more I 
that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.' The 'F 
he speaks of here is opposed to indwelling or gov- 
erning sin, and therefore plainly denotes the prin- 
ciple of reason, the inward man, or law of the 
mind, in which, I add, a measure of the light of 
the Spirit of God shines, in order to show the sin- 
fulness of sin. These two different principles he 
calls, one flesh, and the other spirit (Gal. 5 : 17) ; 



192 TWENTY-EIGHT OBJECTIONS AGAINST THE 

where he speaks of their contrariety in the same 
manner that he does here. 

"And we may give a probable reason why the 
apostle dwells so long upon the struggle and op- 
position between these two principles. It appears 
intended to answer a tacit but very obvious ob- 
jection. The Jew might allege, 'But the law is 
holy and spiritual, and I assent to it as good, as a 
right rule of action, which ought to be observed ; 
yea, I esteem it highly. I glory and rest in it, 
convinced of its truth and excellency. And is not 
this enough to constitute the law a sufficient prin- 
ciple of sanctifieation ? ' The apostle answers, 
'No; wickedness is consistent with a sense of 
the truth. A man may assent to the best rule of 
action, and yet still be under the dominion of lust 
and sin, from which nothing can deliver him but 
a principle and power proceeding from the Fount- 
ain of life.' 

" My reason this, my passion that persuades; 
I see the right, and I approve it too ; 
Condemn the wrong, and yet the wrong pursue. 

"It is no more I.] It is not that I which con 
stitutes reason and conscience, but sin, corrupt and 
sensual inclinations, that dwelleth in me; that 
have the entire dominion over my reasoning, 
darkening my understanding, and perverting my 
judgment, for which there is condemnation in 



DOCTRINE OF DOUBLE-BIRTH PERFECTION. 193 

the law, but no cure. So we find here that there 
is a principle in the unregenerate man stronger 
than reason itself. * * This is * * the seed of 
the serpent, by which the whole soul is darkened, 
confused, perverted, and excited to rebellion 
against God. 

"Verse 19. For the good that I would, I do 
not.] * * The plain state of the case is this : The 
soul is so completely fallen that it has no power to 
do good till it receive that power from on high. 
But it has power to see good, to distinguish be- 
tween that and evil, to acknowledge the excellence 
of this good, and to will it from a conviction of 
that excellence; but further it can not go. Yet, 
in various cases, it solicited and consents to sin; 
and because it is will ; that is, because it is a free 
principle it must necessarily possess this power; 
and although it can do no good unless it receive 
grace from God, yet it is impossible to force it to 
sin. Even Satan himself can not do this. Be- 
fore he can get it to sin he must gain its consent. 
Thus God, in his endless mercy, has endued this 
faculty with a power in which, humanly speaking, 
resides the salvability of the soul ; and without this 
the soul must have eternally continued under the 
power of sin, or been saved as an inert, absolute- 
ly passive machine, which supposition would go 
as nearly to prove that it was as incapable of vice 

13 



194 TWENTY-EIGHT OBJECTIONS AGAINST THE 

as it were of virtue. * * Of the person represent- 
ed here by the apostle it is said, to will is present 
with me; * * but how to perform that which is 
o-ood, I find not ; that is, the man is unregenerate, 
and he is seeking justification and holiness from 
the law. The law was never designed to give 
these. It gives the knowledge, not the cure of 
sin. Therefore, though he wills evil and wills 
good, yet he can neither conquer the one nor per- 
form the other till he recieves the grace of Christ; 
till he seeks and finds redemption in his blood. Here, 
then, the free agency of man is preserved, with- 
out which he could not be in a salvable state ; and 
the honor of the grace of Christ is maintained, 
without which there can be no actual salvation. 

* # * * * * * 

"To say that the inward man means the regen- 
erate part of the soul is supportable by no argu- 
ment. * * This expression, therefore, 'I delight in 
the law of God after the inward man,' can mean 
no more than this, that there are some inward 
faculties [reason and conscience] in the soul, which 
delight in the law of God. This expression is 
^.particularly adapted. to the principles of the Phar- 
isees, of whom St. Paul was one before his con- 
version. They received the law as the oracles of 
God, and confessed that it deserved the most se- 
rious regard. Their veneration was inspired by a 



DOCTRINE OF DOUBLE-BIRTH PERFECTION. 195 

sense of its original, and a full conviction that it 
was true. To some parts of it they paid the most 
superstitious regard. They had it written upon their 
phylacteries, which they carried about with them at 
all times. It was often read and expounded in their 
synagogues; and they took delight in studying 
its precepts. On that account both the prophets 
and our Lord agree in saying that they delighted 
in the law of God, though they regarded not its 
chief and most essential precepts. * * Verse 23. 
But I see another law in my members, [lust] war- 
ring against the law of my mind [reason and con- 
science] and bringing me into captivity to the law 
of sin. He does not here speak of an occassional 
advantage gained by sin; it was a complete and 
final victory gained by corruption. * * The basest 
slave of sin, who, has any remaining checks of 
conscience, can not be brought into a worse state 
than that described here by the apostle. Sin and 
corruption have a final triumph; and conscience 
and reason are taken prisoners, laid in fetters, and 
sold for slaves. Can this ever be said of a man in 
whom the Spirit of God dwells, and whom the 
law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has 
made free from the law of sin and death? (See 
chap. 8: 2.) * * The assertion that 'every Chris- 
tian, however advanced in the divine life, will 
and must feel all this inward conflict,' &c, is as 



196 TWENTY-EIGHT OBJECTIONS AGAINST THE 

untrue as it is dangerous. That many called Chris- 
tians, and probably sincere, do feel all this maybe 
readily granted; and such we must consider to be 
in the same state with Saul of Tarsus previous to 
his conversion. * * We must take heed how we 
make our experience, which is tli£ result of our 
unbelief and unfaithfulness, the standard for the 
people of God, and low r er down Christianity to 
our most reprehensible and dwarfish state." 

For the benefit of any reader who may imagine 
that the church at Rome were unsanctified and in 
need of the "second work," or any who may im- 
agine that "we can never be free from sin in this 
life," I quote from the sixth chapter of the epistle 
before us. In the twenty-second verse Paul de- 
clares, "But now being made free from sin, and 
become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto 
holiness, and the end everlasting life." Did tho. 
apostle mean free? He said "free." Did he mean 
that they were holy? He said so. "Ye have 
your fruit unto holiness." When a man is free 
from sin he is holy. "If the Son shall make you 
free, ye shall be free indeed." (John 8 : 36.) Dr. 
Barnes thinks Paul w r as speaking of "his own ex- 
perience since he became a Christian and an apos- 
tle." (Notes on Rom. 7: 14.) Did he, in a state 
of slavery to sin, set himself up as a teacher of 
men who, he declares, were free from sin, and 



DOCTRINE OF DOUBLE-BIRTH PERFECTION. 197 

holy? No ordinary, unbiased mind can believe 
it. That Paul was not giving his Christian ex- 
perience in Rom. 7: 14-25 is made certain by his 
statement in Rom. 8: 2, "For the law of the 
spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free 
from the law of sin and death." Was Paul free 
from sin? He says so. Who dares contradict? Was 
he a bound, sold slave under sin, and free from 
sin at the same time? President Mahan and Dr. 
Clarke say, "No." Common sense says, "No." It 
is impossible. 

■ 

2. Scripture. — Heb. 6: 1-8. 

" Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of 
Christ, let us go on unto perfection ; not laying again 
the foundation of repentance from dead works, and 
of faith toward God, of the doctrine of baptisms, and 
of laying on of hands, and of resurrection of the dead, 
and of eternal judgment. And this will we do if God 
permit." 

The stress is (by the theologians) laid on the 
words, "Let us go on unto perfection." Proba- 
oly no six words have been so often misunder- 
stood and misapplied as these. They have been 
quoted hundreds of times to convey the idea that 
there are a lower and a higher order of Christians, 
an imperfect salvation and a perfect salvation, an 



198 TWENTY-EIGHT OBJECTIONS AGAINST THE 

imperfect holiness and a perfect holiness; that 
the blood of Christ at its tirst application never 
cleanses from all sin, but the soul must educate for 
a length of time, and afterward be fully cleansed. 
I know not that any respectable author has, with 
his pen, definitely committed himself to the posi- 
tion that the apostle meant by these words posi- 
tively to teach that there are grades in the moral 
character of Christians. Yet it has been contin- 
ually used as a ready bomb to be thrown on all 
occasions for the purpose of alarming an approach- 
ing force, or, like a scuttle-fish, to muddy the 
waters and escape in the mud. 

Let us prayerfully and honestly search to know 
what Paul meant when he used the words. 

1. Did he mean moral progress or intellectual 
progress? Did he mean heart-progress or head 
progress? Did he mean progress in moral purity 
or in theological knowledge ? He doubtless meant 
the latter. That he did not refer to the moral 
state of his Hebrew brethren is quite obvious from 
the following considerations: 

1. He believed they were holy. In the first 
verse of the third chapter he so declares — " Where- 
fore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly 

calling." 

(1) They were called to be holy. 



DOCTRINE OF DOUBLE-BIRTH PERFECTION. 199 

(2) They were "partakers of this heavenly 

calling." 

(3) They were holy; he declares it. 

(4) Dr. Barnes says on the place, "The word 
holy is applied to them to denote that they were 
set apart to God, or that they were sanctified. 
The Jews were often called a 'holy people/ as be- 
ing- consecrated to God; and Christians are holy 
not only as consecrated to God, but as sanctified." 

It is well known that neither Dr. Barnes nor 
any other Calvinist is an enthusiast for sanctifica- 
tion. Yet the doctrine is constrained by the force 
of Paul's declaration to say they were "sancti- 
fied." 

(5) Dr. Clark says, "Holy brethren.] Persons 
consecrated to God, as the word literally implies, 
and called, in consequence, to the holy in heart, 
holy in life, and useful in the world. * * The 
Holy God will not receive unholy persons. This 
living Head will not admit of dead members." 

2. The apostle proposes to leave first princi- 
ples, — to depart in their onward march of investi- 
gation from the rudiments of the system or thing 
in which he proposed to find perfection, — the sys- 
tem of revealed truth. 

(1) In heart-work the first steps are faith, re- 
jection of sin, and consecration to God. 

(2) There can be no heart-progress, no ad- 



200 TWENTY-EIGHT OBJECTIONS AGAINST THE 

vance in heart-purity, where these are discontin- 
ued. The soul that "leaves these principles, that 
ceases trusting in God, submitting to God, and 
rejecting sin, will not, can not go forward, but 
will suddenly and surely go backward and down- 
ward. 

To leave faith behind* in any supposed "going 
on" would be to "go on" not to perfection, nor in 
perfection, but to ruin, in unbelief, away from per- 
fection. To leave the soul -principle of rejecting 
sin would be to embrace sin. This would not be 
going unto perfection, but plunging into ruin. To 
leave the soul -state of consecration to God in an 
imaginary "going on unto perfection" would be 
one of the most complete and decided cases of 
self-deception and self-ruin that ever occurred in 
the history of the universe. 

3. The apostle's very w x ords plainly indicate 
to any one who has not a pet theory to defend 
that his mind is fixed on doctrine, and that 
it is the climactory point of theological truth to 
which he is endeavoring to lead the minds of his 
Hebrew brethren. Doctrine is his theme. "Leav- 
ing first or rudimental doctrinal principles, let us 
go on in our investigation of doctrines till we can 
stand and gaze with uuclouded vision on the high- 
est peak, the loftiest fact, the sublimest truth in 
the whole system of revealed religion. There is 



DOCTRINE OF DOUBLE-BIRTH PERFECTION. 201 

perfection somewhere. Your souls have been 
looking into the historic wonders of the past, and 
anxiously peering into the infinite depths of the 
future to rest your eye on the central point of all 
good. Your Jewish brethren, loath to lose you 
from their ceremonial worship,— their mechanical 
religion, — are harrassing your minds with their 
scoffs at your poor Nazarene carpenter, with not 
a meeting-house to worship in, and not a priest 
to officiate. They have almost bewildered you 
with boasts about their father Abraham, who 
walked and talked with God; their Moses and the 
law which God wrote for him with his own finger 
on tables of stone ; their hierarchy established by 
High Heaven ; their prophets, through whom God 
spoke to the unborn millions in the ages to come 
of events which should occur in their midst; the 
wonders, signs, and miracles which the God of 
Israel wrought for his people through the*ages past. 
All these things you have to admit. Taking ad- 
vantage of this, they have reasoned you almost 
blind. You have listened to them too long. You 
ought to be well posted by this time, and able to 
teach others ; but ye have need that one teach you 
again which be the first principles of the oracles (re- 
vealed truths or doctrines), of God. I see that you 
are so far confused with their sophistry— their 
false reasoning based on well-known truths — that 



202 TWENTY-EIGHT OBJECTIONS AGAINST THE 

ye are in great danger of backsliding and aposta- 
tizing. Well, I have (in the five preceding chap- 
ters) refreshed your memories on rudimental prin- 
ciples and several points in, the character and of- 
fice of your chosen Christ, who is so much ridi- 
culed by our Jewish kinsmen, wrapped in the 
blindness of their carnality. And now if you 
will, with me, just pass on from these first princi- 
ples of doctrine, such as the doctrine of baptisms, 
—baptism by the Holy Ghost, by which your 
hearts*were washed, and baptism with water, in 
which you made a public profession of faith in 
the triune God, and of the inward baptism he had 
performed,— and of laying on of hands, of resur- 
rection of the dead, and of eternal judgment, I 
will show you that the Nazareue whom you have 
chosen as your religious? leader possesses in him- 
self the embodiment of all the good you seek, or 
can seek^or will ever be able to know. He is the 
embodiment of perfection. Follow me, and I will 
&how you this grandest of all facts. You had the 
true, saving light when you embraced him and 
obtained the heavenly gift of salvation by the 
power of the Holy Ghost. This heavenly power 
and truth which redeemed you came only through 
the blood of Jesus of Nazareth. It can never 
reach a soul of our race through any other medi- 
um. Therefore, if you fall away, it you forsake 



DOCTRINE OF DOUBLE-BIRTH PERFECTION. 203 

Christ and go back to Judaism, or to any other 
religious system, you are forever lost. Come on, 
and I will show you that moral purity can be 
found nowhere else in the wide universe of God, 
save only in the teachings, sufferings, atoning 
blood, and personal, quickening, purifying, spirit- 
ual power of Jesus the Christ, your chosen Lord. 
He is God manifested in the flesh. God alone can 
save. All the law and the prophets pointed at 
him. They had no more power to save than a 
guide-board has to take a man to a city. They 
could never make the corners thereunto perfect 
as pertaining to the conscience. The law made 
nothing perfect. Christ does. In embracing him, 
you have embraced the sum of all excellency. 
You have embraced perfection. You are far above 
the terrors of Sinai, which made even Moses to 
exclaim, "I exceedingly fear and quake." Our 
kinsmen cling to the old guide-boards which 
pointed at our Christ. But ye are come unto 
Mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, 
the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable 
company of angels, to the general assembly and 
church of the first-born, which are written in 
heaven, and to God the judge of all, and to the 
spirits of just men made perfect, and to Jesus the 
mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood 
of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than 



204 TWENTY-EIGHT OBJECTIONS AGAINST THE 

Abel. See, then, that ye refuse not nor turn away 
from him who has spoken to you by all the his- 
tory of the past, by his Son, and by his Holy 
Spirit, shedding abroad his love, joy, and peace in 
your hearts ; for if they escaped not who refused 
him that spake on earth, surely we shall not es- 
cape if we turn away from him that speaketh 
from heaven." 

]STo scriptural % truth is more obvious than that 
Paul's central object was the establishment of the 
faith of his Hebrew brethren in their chosen 
Christ, from whom others were endeavoring to 
turn them away. Fo other means would be so 
likely to accomplish his object as a presentation 
of the perfection of Christ and his great salvation 
in contrast with Judaism and its utter inefficiency 
and insignificancy as a means of salvation apart 
from the perfect Christ, at whom all the law and 
prophets pointed as their soul and center. Even 
Dr. Albert Barnes, who believed that "men do not 
fall from grace," acknowledges the position here 
taken. He says, "The general purpose of this epis- 
tle is to preserve those to whom it was sent from 
the danger of apostasy. Their danger on this sub- 
ject did not arise so much from persecution as from 
the circumstances that were fitted to attract them 
again to the Jewish religion." (Intro.) "The 
apostle was addressing Christians. He was en- 



DOCTRINE OF DOUBLE-BIRTH PERFECTION. 205 

deavoring to keep them from apostasy.' 5 (Notes 

on 6:4.) 

Thus it appears that it is a very great perver- 
sion of Paul's intention to say that he referred to 
progress in moral purity when he uttered the 
words, "Let us go on unto perfection." He w T as 
addressing "holy brethren, partakers of the heav- 
calling" (3: 1), who had "tasted of the heavenly 
gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, 
and had tasted the good word of God and the pow- 
ers of the world to come." (6 : 4, 5.) They were 
perfect Christians. 

3. Scripture.— JEph. 5: 25, 27. 

''Christ loved the church, and gave himself for it ; 
that he might sanctify and cleanse it" etc. 

The stress is laid on the words, "Sanctify and 

CLEANSE IT." 

The assumption is — with little or no argument 
— that Christ's .church needs cleansing; and this 
cleansing; the church would be a "second work" 
in the hearts of Christians. We may remark, 

1. The apostle did not contemplate the Ephe- 
sian brethren as in need of the second cleansing; for 
if we turn to the third and fourth verses of the first 
chapter of this same letter we shall find that he 
regarded them as holy. He says, "Blessed be the 



206 TWENTY-EIGHT OBJECTIONS AGAINST THE 

God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who 
hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heav- 
enly places in Christ : according as he hath chosen 
us in him before the foundation of the world, that 
we should be holy and without blame before him 

in love." 

(1) They were "blessed with all spiritual bless 
ings." Would not this include sanctification ? 

(2) These "all spiritual blessings" were bestow- 
ed in accordance with a fixed invariable arrange- 
ment that his children "should be holy and with- 
out blame before him in love/' 

(3) Then surely they were blessed with "holi- 
ness, according as he hath chosen." 

2. If the text affords any argument for the 
second-word doctrine, it must teach that the 
church of Christ is, or has been, first, unholy, and 
secondly, that it has become, or will yet become 

holy. 

(1) Does it teach that the church ever was unholy? 

It clearly implies that the persons who now com- 
pose the church once needed a moral cleansing. 
But were they his church when they were in a 
state of moral pollution? No; for we have just 
seen (chapter 1, verses 3, 4) that his eternal ar- 
rangement is that his church "should be holy." 
Moreover, if they were his church when uuholy, 
then what is the difference between the church 
and the world? They were not, of course. 



DOCTRINE OF DOUBLE-BIRTH PERFECTION. 207 

But we must remember that the text teaches 
nothing as to a time when the church was unholy. 
Nor is there a syllable in the sacred Scriptures af- 
firming anything of the sort. Paul abundantly 
affirms the contrary in his letters to the Romans 
and Corinthians. "The kingdom of God is right- 
eousness and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost." 
"The temple of God is holy, which temple ye 
are." The Hebrews he calls "holy brethren." 
He charges the Thessalonians to read his letter "to 
all the holy brethren," plainly intimating that he 
regarded them as such. 

Thus it becomes obvious that at least a large 
portion of the church was holy in the days of 
Paul. When, then, was the church of Christ un- 
holy? There is not a scrap of evidence that the 
real, spiritual church, the mystic body of Christ, 
ever was unholy. 

(2) Is the church now unholy? Many would 
have us believe that there are thousands of unholy 
persons in the church of Christ. This is the opin- 
ion of all double-birth theologians, and all Calvin- 
ists. And while it is undeniably and lamentably 
true that there are many unholy persons who 
claim to be of the church of Christ, and probably 
many sincerely, yet it is utterly against Paul's 
definition of "the kingdom of God" to suppose 
that their claim is just. The kingdom is "right- 



208 TWENTY-EIGHT OBJECTIONS AGAINST THE 

eousness, peace, and joy in the Holy G-host." 
Therefore, all who are in this kingdom are in a 
state of righteousness — holiness. » 

3. Now let us ask whether we can believe that 
Paul was really trying to inculcate the doctrine 
of the second work by means of the language of 
our text. 

Supposing he believed it, would he have under- 
taken to teach it with such meager, distant, indi- 
rect hints? Would he have treated a doctrine of 
such vast importance, as it would be if true, so 
lightly? No man can justly accuse the energetic 
Paul of such trifling recreancy in dealing with eter- 
nal interests, as this would be. 

Mark, he says nothing about a second work, 
nor a first work. He says nothing about sin in 
believers, nor removing inbred corruption from 
the justified. He says nothing about "the depths 
of pride, self-will, and hell," in regenerate hearts. 
He says nothing about removing these from the 
hearts of his children. He clearly shows that 
"Christ died for the ungodly." He shows that he 
gave his life as a ransom for the rebellious cap- 
tive. He tells us that "he tasted death for every 
man." He teaches in our text that immaculate 
holiness is what Christ has purchased for those 
who will embrace him, and that, holiness >is the 
moral character of his church. He clearly teaches 



DOCTRINE OF DOUBLE-BIRTH PERFECTION. 209 

that the Lamb will not accept a polluted bride ; 
that the bride must be perfectly pure ; that none 
but the perfectly pure will be accepted in the 
great day. But he says not a word about "justi- 
fying the impure/' the "carnal," the "unholy," the 
"sold under sin," the "enslaved," and then after- 
ward sanctifying them 

Our text says Christ gave himself for the 
church; that is, the persons composing the 
church. But we know they were rough sinners 
before they were in his church. Then he gave 
himself for rough sinners that he might sanctify 
them, and so make a church of them. Such is 
Paul's teaching in our text. In another place he 
quotes it thus : "Know ye not that the unright- 
eous shall not inherit the kingdom of God ? Be 
not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, 
nor adulterers, nor efieminate, nor abusers of 
themselves with mankind, nor thieves, nor cov- 
etous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortion- 
ers, shall inherit the kingdom of God, And such 
were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are 
sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the 
Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God." (I. 
Cor. 6: 9-11.) 

"Here are ten classes of transgressors which the 
apostle excludes from the kingdom of God; and 
any man who is guilty of any one of the evils 

14 



210 TWENTY-EIGHT OBJECTIONS AGAINST THE 

mentioned above, is thereby excluded from this 
kingdom, whether it simply be the church of 
Christ here below, or the state of glory hereafter." 

(Clarke.) 

And it is certain, according to the Savior's 
words (Matt. 5: 28), that the inward action— the 
heart-action— is all the same before God as the 
outward action. If then the heart be in favor of 
any of these things— these ten items— mentioned 
by Paul, such a heart is unrighteous, and conse- 
quently excluded from the spiritual church, the 
righteous kingdom of Christ; for "the unright- 
eous shall not inherit the kingdom of God." 
According to Dr. Clarke, who is claimed as a 
second- work theologian, whatever moral state ex- 
cludes the soul from the "state of glory hereafter," 
also "excludes it from the church of Christ here." 
The church of Jesus Christ consists wholly and 
exclusively of persons who were once sinners, but 
are now "washed, sanctified, justified in the name 
v of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God." 
"The bride, the Lamb's wife" is not filled with 
"the depths of pride, self-will, the work of the 
devil, and hell," as Mr. Wesley has it in his 
f 4 Plain Account of Christian Perfection," page 10. 
The bride is a finer lady than all that would indi- 
cate. Probably many who fancy they are of the 
bride, are sadly and ruinously mistaken. They 



DOCTRINE OF DOUBLE BIRTH PERFECTION. 211 

"have a name to live and are dead." "Having a 
form of godliness, they deny [or at least are desti- 
tute of] the power thereof: from such turn away." 
(II. Tim. 3:5.) 

4. Scripture. — Gal. 5: 17. 

" For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the 
Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary the 
one to the other: so that ye can not do the things that 
ye would" 

Bishop Castle omitted the last clause when he 
quoted from this text in discussion on this subject. 
Just why he did this I do not pretend to say. It 
certainly adds emphasis to the passage. Possibly 
the bishop thought it added too much emphasis. 
It certainly makes the case too strong for his pur- 
pose. It makes just such a case of spiritual bond- 
age as the one presented by this learned apostle 
in his letter to the church at Rome. (7: 14-25.) 
It is too clearly a case of slavery to carnality to 
pass for a representation of the Christian charac- 
ter. It was addressed to backsliders. Let us go 
back to the first chapter and pick up a few of the 
evidences of this fact, which are strewed through 
the epistle. 

. "I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him 
that called you into the grace of Christ unto an- 
other gospel." (Gal. 1: 6.) "0 foolish Galatians, 



•212 TWENTY-EIGHT OBJECTIONS AGAINST THE 

who hath bewitched you, that, ye should not obey 
the truth V (Gal. 3: 1.) "But now, after that 
ye have known God, or rather are known of God, 
how turn ye again to the weak and beggarly ele- 
ments, whereunto ye desire again to be in bond- 
age?" Gal. 4: 9.) * * (11.) "I am afraid of 
you, lest I have bestowed upon you labor in vain." 
* * (19, 20.) "My little children, of whom I 
travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you, 
I desire to be present with you now, and to change 
my voice; for I stand in doubt of you." 

"Ye are fallen from grace." (Gal. 5 : 4.) This 
settles the point. Some of them, at last, had "fall- 
en from grace." So much is absolutely certain. 
Dr. Clarke tersely remarks on this place, "They 
had been brought into the grace of the gospel ; 
and now, by re-adopting the Mosaic ordinances, 
they had apostatized from the gospel as a system 
of religion, and had lost the grace communicated 
to their souls, by which they were preserved in a 
' state of salvation. The peace and love of God, 
received by Jesus Christ, could not remain in the 
hearts of those who had rejected Christ. They 
had, therefore, in every sense of the word, fallen 
from grace ; and whether some of them ever rose 
again is more than we can tell." 

Such were the persons to whom the apostle 
says "The flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and 



DOCTRINE OF DOUBLE-BIRTH PERFECTION. 213 

the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contra- 
ry the one to the other ; so that ye can not do the 
things that ye would." Slaves were they; "car- 
nal, sold under sin." They were greatly in need 
of the advice he had just penned (verse 16), "Walk 
in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the 
flesh." On this Dr. Clarke most appropriately re- 
marks, "Get back that Spirit of God whicli you 
have grieved and lost; take up that spiritual re- 
ligion which you have abandoned. If the Spirit 
of God dwell in and rule your heart, the whole 
carnal mind will be destroyed ; and then, not only 
carnal ordinances will be abandoned, but also the 
works and propensities of the flesh." 

(1.) Either the doctor is wrong, or the second- 
work theologians are wrong. He says, "If the 
Spirit of God dwell and rule in the heart, the 
whole carnal mind will be destroyed, together 
with the works and propensities of the flesh." 

(2. It is well known and admitted on all hands 
that the Spirit of God dwells and rules in the 
heart of every regenerate soul. 

(8.) It follows, theu, that every regenerate soul 
is free from the carnal mind. 

Let us now honestly ask ourselves the question, 
Did Paul intend to inculcate the second-work doc- 
trine by means of our present text? And if so, in 
what manner did he expect to accomplish his ob- 






214 TWENTY-EIGHT OBJECTIONS AGAINST THE 

ject? (1.) The general proposition of the text 
would not inculcate it any more than the propo- 
sition which he announced in his letter to the 
Romans, "The carnal mind is enmity against 
God, for it is not subject to the law of God, nei- 
ther' indeed can be." (Rom. 8 : 7.) The two 
propositions express precisely the same doctrine. 
Yet no one ever quotes the latter to prove the 
second-word doctrine. 

(2. He could not have intended to direct at- 
tention to a specific case or class of cases, for the 
purpose of accomplishing the supposed object; for 
he was surely not directing attention to any other 
specific case but that of the Galatians ; and their 
case could not possibly answer the supposed pur- 
pose, seeing they were backsliders; and back- 
sliders are not in the enjoyment of the first work, 
saying nothing about the second. They, like the 
church at Ephesus, had "left their first love," and 

"fallen from grace." 

Thus we see that there is no evidence of any 
kind in support of the idea that our text was ever 
intended to teach the doctrine that a regenerate 
soul is full of sin. If that had been his intention 
he could very easily have said it plainly ; but he 
never said it. Hence we have a right to iufer 
that he never believed it. He surely would have 



DOCTRINE OF DOUBLE BIRTH PERFECTION. 215 

taught it if lie had believed it; for, if true, it 
would be exceedingly important. 

5. Scripture. — James 4: 5, 6. 

"Do ye think that the Scripture saith in vain, The 
spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy ? But he 
giveth more grace" 

This text has been very little used by the sec- 
ond-work theologians. They are almost univers- 
ally unable to see in it any evidence in support of 
their doctrine. Bishop Castle, however, used it 
in his answer to the question, "Can a man be born 
of God without being sanctified?" His only com- 
ment on it is this, "Here grace is multiplied in 
order to meet this inward antagonism." 

As Dr. Clarke has been quoted by Bishop Cas- 
tle, and Dr. Wood as a good witness in their case, 
his testimony on this case will, of course, be high- 
ly acceptable with them and others of the same 
school. I will therefore give it in full. He says : 

"This verse is exceedingly obscure. We can 
not tell what scripture St. James refers to. Many 
have been produced by learned men, as that w r hich 
he had particularly in view. Some think Genesis 
6 : 5, 'Every imagination of the thoughts of his 
heart was only evil continually. 5 'The imagina- 
tion of man's heart is evil from his youth.' (Gen. 



216 . TWENTY-EIGHT OBJECTIONS AGAINST THE 

8: 21.) Moses said unto him, 'Enviest thou for 
my sake?' (Numbers 9: 29.) 'The soul of the 
wicked desireth evil.' (Prov. 21: 10.) None of 
these scriptures, nor any others, contain the pre- 
cise words of.this verse; and therefore St. James 
may probably refer not to any particular portion, 
but to the Spirit and design of the scripture in 
those various places where it speaks against envy, 
covetousness, worldly associations, &c, &c. 

"Perhaps the words in this and the two suc- 
ceeding verses may be well paraphrased thus, 'Do 
ye think that concerning these things the script- 
ure speaketh falsely, or that the Holy Spirit which 
dwells in us can excite us to envy others, instead 
of being contented with the state in which the 
providence of God has placed us ? Nay, far other- 
wise ; for he giveth us more grace to enable us to 
bear the ills of life, and to lie in deep humility at 
his feet, knowing that his Holy Spirit has said 
(Prov. 3: 34), God resisteth the proud, but giveth 
^grace to the humble. Seeing these things are so, 
submit yourselves to God, resist the devil, who 
would tempt you to envy, and he will flee from 
you ; draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to 

you.' 

• "I must leave this sense as the best I can give. 
There is not a critic in Europe that has considered 
the passage who has not been puzzled with it. I 



DOCTRINE OF DOUBLE-BIRTH PERFECTION. 217 

think the fifth verse should be understood as giv- 
ing a contrary sense to that in our translation. 
Every genuine Christian is a habitation of the 
Holy Ghost, and that Spirit excites strong desires 
against envy; therefore a man must not suppose 
that he is a Christian if he have an envious 01 
covetous heart." 

1. All will agree that the Holy Spirit never 
"lusteth to envy," but incites the precise contrary 
feeling in the heart where it abides. 

2. All agree that it abides, as the doctor says, 
in every Christian's heart. 

3. Therefore there is at least one almighty op- 
poser of envy in every Christian's, heart. 

4. The heart of the regenerate soul can not 
"lust to envy;" for this would be a direct and 
positive violation of that great law which says, 
"Thou shalt not covet anything that is thy neigh- 
bor's." Envy is the desire for the good which be- 
longs to our neighbor, mingled with a feeling of 
malevolence toward that neighbor. It is, there- 
fore, a violation of the first commandment in the 
Decalogue, which forbids idolatry; for Paul de- 
clares that "covetousness is idolatry" (Col. 3: 5); 
and also of that "golden rule," which says, "Thou 
shalt love thy neighbor as thyself." It is impos- 
sible to obey this with envy in the heart. More- 
over it involves a violation of that other sacred 



218 TWENTY-EIGHT OBJECTIONS AGAINST THE 

command, "Love not the world, neither the things 
that are in the world." (I. John 2: 15.) For 
envy is an impossibility in the heart where there 
is no love of the world, nor of things that are in 
the world. In a word, envy involves a violation 
of the "first and great commandment," the great 
fundamental rule underlying the whole system of 
God's moral government; namely, "Thou shalt 
love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and 
with all thy soul, and with all thy mind." (Matt. 
22 : 37.) For we have seen that envy is impossi- 
ble in the heart where the love of the world is ab- 
sent; and John declares that "if any man love the 
world, the love of the Father is not in him." (I. 
John 2: 15.) If the love of the Father is not in 
him, he is unable, of course, to obey the command 
which requires all men to love him with all their 
powers. And, further, if he have not that love it 
is certain that he is destitute of the Holy Ghost 
which always sheds abroad that love in every 
^heart where he abides. This makes him a violator 
of that other command which says, "Be filled with 

the Spirit." 

Thus then we see that the envious spirit is a 
violator of at least six commands, namely : 

1. "Thou shalt not covet." 

2. "Love not the world." 

3. "Thou shalt have no other gods before me." 



DOCTRINE OF DOUBLE-BIRTH PERFECTION. 219 

This is against every form of idolatry; and we 
have seen that covetousness is idolatry." 

4. "Be filled with the Spirit/' 

5. "Love thy neighbor as thyself." 

6. "Love God with all thy heart, soul, and 

mind." 

It would be very easy to show that a spirit 
which is in a state of opposition to all these com- 
mands is also in opposition to all the others. 
And when we consider that "whosoever is born 
of God doth not [and in this state can not] com- 
mit sin," (I. John 3 : 9) we must stand amazed in 
view of the gross misrepresentation of the Chris- 
tian character and of God's word in relation to 
that character, which has proceeded from the 
tongues and pens of learned bishops and doctors 
who hold that "the Spirit which dwells within the 
regenerate soul lusteth to envy;" that a Christian 
spirit may be an envious spirit. At one time they 
tell us that "even babes in Christ are so far perfect 
as not to commit sin." At another time they tell 
us that even the dark, ugly crime of envy, involv- 
ing at least six other gross crimes, is quite consist- 
ent with the regenerate state. Surely, they hold 
a mixed and a changeable theology. 

Well, we see clearly that envy is not compatible 
with the regenerate spirit; and we know assured- 
ly that the Holy Spirit, which dwells in the re- 



220 TWENTY-EIGHT OBJECTIONS AGAINST THE 

generate spirit, never lusteth to envy. It is cer- 
tain, then, that two spirits dwelling in the Chris- 
tian body— "the temple of God"— (I. Cor. 3: 16) 
are perfectly clear of envy. If then there be a 
spirit in such a temple, that "lusteth to envy," it 
must certainly be a third spirit, — the spirit of 
darkness,— the old Diabolus of hell. This brings 
us back to John Wesley's "depth of pride, self- 
will, and hell, in the child of God." (C. P., page 
10.) This idea has been. met under ''Objections" 
13 and 21.) "What concord hath Christ with 
Belial?" These never dwell harmoniously and 
peacefully in the same heart. But the justified 
soul is the abode of perfect peace, as all Christians 
do certainly know. (See Rom. 5 : 1-5 ; and Isa. 

26: 3.) 

If, then, the ugly sin of envy is not harmonious 
with the Holy Spirit, nor the Christian spirit; 
and if Satan can not dwell in the Christian's heart, 
then it follows that there can be no spirit in the 
* Christian which "lusteth to envy." Whoever, 
therefore, holds that James wished, by our text, 
to designate a certain class of persons in whom 
there dwells a spirit which "lusteth to envy," he 
must, to be consistent, hold that he pointed at the 
persons he addressed in the four verses next pre- 
ceding our text. Let us read them. 

"From whence come wars and fightings among 



DOCTRINE OF DOUBLE-BIRTH PERFECTION, 221 

you ? come they not hence, even of your lusts that 
war in your members? Ye lust, and have not: 
ye kill, and desire to have, and can not obtain : 
ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask 
not. Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask 
amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts. 
Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that 
the friendship of the world is enmity with God? 
whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world 
is the enemy of God. Do ye think," &c. 

They were 1. Prayerless — at heart. 2. Conten- 
tious. 3. Criminally lascivious. 4. Covetous. 
5. Lovers of the world. 6. Murderers. 

No one will deny that they needed a second 
work, if they ever had the first. No one doubts 
that an envious, hideous, devilish spirit raged and 
ruled within them. We must dismiss them as in- 
competent witnesses in the case. They are spuri- 
ous specimens. They can not be accepted as sam- 
ples. But they are the persons James was directly 
addressing when he penned our text. A doctrine 
that needs such testimony as comes from such 
characters is in a beggarly condition surely. 

6. Scripture. — Luke 8: 14. 

"And that which fell among thorns are they, which, 
when they have heard, go forth, and are choked with 
cares and riches and pleasures of this life, and bring 
no fruit to perfection." 



222 TWENTY-EIGHT OBJECTIONS AGAINST THE 

"Here," says Bishop Castle, "the wheat and 
the tares grew together. They did not amalga- 
mate; but they grew together in the same soil. 
So good and evil may be resident in the same 
moral nature, and may war with each other for 
the ascendancy/' (Tel, June 19, 1878.) 

1. Eemember, it is not stated that the word 
produced any effect on their hearts; only "they 

heard" it. 

2. It is not said that they brought forth any 

fruit at all. 

3. Let us go back and read the three verses 
next preceding the text. "Now the parable is this. 
The seed is the word of God. [Not men, nor moral 
principles or qualities, but simply truth.] Those 
[persons who are represented by the seed falling] 
by the wayside are they that hear; then cometh the 
devil, and taketh away the word out of their hearts, 
lest they should believe and be saved. [Diabolus 
wants no one to be saved.] They [who are repre- 
sented by the seed falling] on the rock are they, which, 
when they hear, receive the word with joy ; and these 
have no root, [no depth of earth, or understanding] 
which for awhile believe, and in time of temptation fall 
away. And that [seed] which fell among thorns are 
they, [represents those] which, when they have heard, 
go forth, and are choked [suffer the truth to be 
choked or crowded out] with cares and riches and 



DOCTRINE OF DOUBLE-BIRTH PERFECTION. 223 

pleasures of this life, and bring no fruit to perfec- 
tion." The word produces no effect in this case. 
No fruit; no action in harmony with the truth. 
The bishop goes a little in advance of the Savior 
when he says, "Here the wheat and the thorns 
grew together." The Savior does not even say 
that the seed did so much as to sprout, or germi- 
nate among the thorny cares, lusts, and anxieties 
of the hearts ingrossed with riches. The seed or 
truth did not grow at all. It produced neither 
fruit nor blade. It was choked out. And is not 
this generally the case with rich people, and even 
those who are not rich, but wishing and strug- 
gling to be. They seldom actually hear or read 
the word. When they do hear, that is the end 
of it. When they hear Gabriel's trumpet, hearing 
will not be the end of it. 

We can not take this as a case; for the seed or 
truth never led them to seek even a first work, 
let alone the second. We may imagine wheat 
and thorns growing together, yet we have no right 
to represent Jesus as giving such a case to illus- 
trate the corruption of the Christian heart, for he 
never did it for any purpose. He only — in this 
case — illustrated the danger of riches, and the 
comparative uselessness of preaching to the rich. 



224 TWENTY-EIGHT OBJECTIONS AGAINST THE 

7. Scripture. — I. John 2: 16. 

" The lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and 
the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the 
world." 

On this text Bishop Castle remarks, "Is there 
no seeking of iieshly gratification, no sensual and 
impure desires, no love of parade, gaudy dress, and 
costly decoration among Christian people; no 
seeking of honorable distinctions, and loud boast- 
ings of office and position among Christian 
men, and even ministers of the word? Whence 
do these come but from the impurity that yet 
reigns within? Indeed, this is so apparent that 
to pause for reasoning upon it is but to contradict 
a judgment that has ripened into unquestioned 
certainty. That there is a measure of holiness in 
every regenerate heart is evident from the follow- 
ing: " (Here he quoted II. Cor. 7: 1.) 

1. Here the bishop uses the words of the pure 
and lovely Apostle John, as evidence in support of 
the doctrine that a man can be a Christian, on his 
way to heaven, with a heart full of lasciviousness, 
"eyes full of adultery, and that can not cease from 
sin," (see II. Pet. 2: 14) lips laden with "loud 
boastings," and a life and appearance which evince 
a soul full of pride and worldly ambition. 

2. The bishop wants us to understand that 



DOCTRINE OF DOUBLE-BIRTH PERFECTION. 225 

God justifies all these things, pride, ambition, 
bombast, lasciviousness, and general impurity 
reigning within. And with all this devilishness 
(Wesley says, "All sin is the work of the devil") 
"there is a measure of holiness." (Have I not 
justly called it mixed theology?) 

3. I read in God's holy word that God resisteth 
the proud." 

4. I read from the lips of Jesus (Matt. 5 : 28) 
that a lustful look is a crime. All sin begins in 
the heart, in the thoughts. A murderous inten- 
tion is as really murder in the sight of God as 
cutting a man's throat. "Whosoever hateth his 
brother is a murderer." (I. John 3: 15.) 

5; No man can do the things which the bishop 
here attributes to Christians, basing his description 
on our text from John, without a very strong love 
for the w r orld. But John says, in the very first 
verse preceding our text, "If any man love the 
world, the love of the Father is not in him." 

6. Thus it appears most explicitly that the 
bishop has greatly misapplied the text. 

-7. So long as both wings of the Protestant 
church — both Calvinists and Armenians — persist 
in teaching that a man can be a Christian on his 
way to heaven, and at the same time "full of sin 
till death;" full of "all the hidden abominations 
there, the depth of pride, self-will, and hell, yet 

15 



226 TWENTY-EIGHT OBJECTIONS AGAINST THE 

having the witness in themselves, 'Thou art an 
heir of God, a joint-heir with Christ, 5 " just so 
long will the real, mystic body of Christ, the real 
spiritual church, the lovely "bride, the Lamb's 
wife," be hampered, incumbered, weighed down, 
and hindered in the glorious work assigned her, 
and in which she loves to engage, by a circumja- 
cent and superincumbent mass of corruption, in 
the hearts of pretended friends. 

Let us look again at our text, and see if we 
can make it fit the Christian character. "The lust 
of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride 
of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world/' 

These sins are of the sinful world — characteris- 
tics of the wicked ; yet we are to believe that they 
descended from God in the heart of his regenerate 
child, and that the apostle has presented them to 
our view as a picture of God's dear children, pos- 
sessing, ^as Bishop Castle tells us, "every feature 
of the divine nature or image." From such a 
picture of the divine image we can well afford to 
turn away. 

8. Scripture. — John 15 : 2, 3. 

"Every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, 
that it may bring forth more fruit. Now ye are clean 
through the word which I have spoken unto you" 

Bishop Castle says, "This branch was fruit- 



DOCTRINE OF DOUBLE-BIRTH PERFECTION. 227 

bearing, and yet needed cleansing in order to 
greater fruitf illness." (Tel., June 26, 1878.) 

"This branch." I should like to know which 
one. He was not designating one branch, but a 
class, even all fruitful branches. No others will 
continue to be branches. The unfruitful branches 
will quickly fall away. But "every fruitful branch 
he purgeth, that it may bring forth more fruit." 

1. This "every branch that bringeth fruit" 
certainly includes the sanctified ones, no matter 
when they became sanctified; for no others are so 
well prepared to bring fruit, even if it were con- 
ceded that the unsanctified can bear the fruit re- 
ferred to. 

2. Well, according to the bishop's view of the 
text, all these fuitful, sanctified persons will still 
need to be "cleansed in order to greater fruitful- 
ness." 

3. The Savior said to his eleven apostles, "Now 
ye are clean." Then they were in the proper moral 
condition to bring fruit. Yet, notwithstand- 
ing this, they still needed a moral cleansing to 
make them more fruitful, according to the bishop's 
view of the text. 

4. According to the bishop's idea the Savior's 
arrangement would stand about this way : 

(1) The pure in heart bring fruit. 

(2) Then they are cleansed. 



228 TWENTY-EIGHT OBJECTIONS AGAINST THE 

(3) Then they bring more fruit. 

(4) Then they obtain another moral cleansing, 

and so on. 

(5) Who can understand this? It is like Dr. 
Watson's perpetual cleansing a soul that was sud- 
denly made clean in the start. 

Dr. Clarke, whom these authors love to quota, 
says on the place, "The branch which bears not 
fruit, the husbandman taketh it away ; but the 
branch that beareth fruit, he taketh away from it; 
that is, he prunes away excrescences, and removes 
everything that might hinder its increasing fruit- 
fulness. The verb * * signifies ordinarily to 
cleanse, purge, purify, but is certainly to be taken 
in the sense of pruning, or cutting off, in this 
text," as the verb pur gave is used by Horace Cut- 
tello propriospurgantem knit er ungues, "Composed- 
lv paring his own nails with a pen-knife." 

Note a few facts. 

1. No grape-vine naturally needs cleansing 
from pollution, and therefore could not properly 
be used as and illustration of moral cleansing. 

2. It is one of the most tractable of plants. 

3. The intelligent dresser clips it back for sev- 
eral purposes: (1) To control its form and strength 
and the number of its coming clusters. (2) After 
the young clusters are formed on the new branches 
he often clips these branches just beyond the 



DOCTRINE OF DOUBLE-BIRTH PERFECTION. 229 

farthest clusters to prevent a waste of sap in un- 
necessary timber and foliage, saving it for the 
clusters. 

So our blessed Father in heaven often clips back 
the arrangements, projects, and expectations of 
his children, to prevent a waste of time, talent, 
means, strength, and influence on useless things, 
and utilize them in the advancement of his king- 
dom, the salvation of souls, and the glory of his 
name. Blessed and useful is the man who takes 
it cheerfully and lovingly when his God, by af- 
flictions, disappointments, or disconcertions, clips 
him back, and so keeps his powers properly har- 
nessed, directed, and employed, giving beauty to 
his record, sheaves for his harvest, and stars for 
his crown. "Whom the Lord loveth he chasten- 
eth." (Paul.) u He that goeth forth and weep- 
eth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come 
again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with 
him." (David.) "They that be wise shall shine 
as the brightness of the Armament; and they that 
turn many to righteousness, as the stars forever 
and ever." (Daniel.) 

9. Scripture. — Matt. 19: 14. 

"Jesus said, Suffer little children, and forbid them 
not, to come unto me; for of such is the kingdom of 
heaven." 



230 TWENTY-EIGHT OBJECTIONS AGAINST THE 

Luke says, "-For of such is the kingdom of God" 

(Luke 18: 16.) 

This is one of the texts employed by Bishop 
Castle for the purpose of establishing the idea or 
doctrine that moral pollution may and actually 
does hold a justified and approved relation and 
place in God's moral government and spiritual 
kingdom. He starts out by saying: 

"Our Savior clearly asserts that little children 
belong to his kingdom." He then quotes our 
text and its parallel in Luke. 

He then proceeds to prove — what no one denies 
—that Jesus referred, in the text, to his spiritual 
kingdom. 

Next he affirms— and justly— the identity of the 
Lord's spiritual kingdom on earth with his glori- 
fied kingdom in heaven. He says : 

"Whatever else may be meant, we are most cer- 
tainly safe in affirming that God's spiritual king- 
dom—his invisible church, this mystic body of 
Christ,— is included in this phrase, 'The kingdom 
of heaven.' * * In Ephesians 3: 15 it is called a 
family, and embraces the redeemed of every age 
and clime, and also those already in heaven. In 
Hebrews 12: 23 it is called the 'general assembly 
and church of the first-born, which are written in 

heaven.'" 

He then proceeds to affirm their membership in 



DOCTUESTE OF LOUBLE-BIRTH PERFECTION. 231 

this spiritual kingdom — this heavenly family. He 

says : 

"Perhaps one of the most conclusive proofs of 
the relationship of infants to the mystic body of 
Christ, and their consequent security in him, is to 
be found in the words of Jesus, ' Whosoever shall 
receive this child in my name receiveth me ; and 
whosoever shall receive me, receiveth him that sent 
me." (Luke 9 : 47, 48.) 

Next he proceeds to affirm the moral pollution 
of infants. He says: 

"1. They derive their nature from a fallen 
parentage. 'Adam begat a son in his own like- 
ness and after his own image.' Paul says, 4By one 
man's disobedience many were made sinners.' A 
corrupt state of human nature obtained through 
the fall, and is the common inheritance of all that 
have that nature. All are regarded sinful because 
this corrupt nature is out of harmony with the 
perfect law of God, and never can be conformed 
to it. This want of conformity is unrighteous- 
ness, and 'all unrighteousness is sin.' " 

"2. The necessity for the new birth teaches 
this want of holiness. The necessity for this re- 
birth is founded on the nature of our first birth, 
which is affirmed to be a birth of the flesh, and 
consequently is flesh. Paul says, 'They that are 
in the flesh can not please God.' This unfitness 



232 TWENTY-EIGHT OBJECTIONS AGAINST THE 

for the kingdom of God, it will be observed, 4s 
by birth/ and not the result of what is done. 
It is an inheritance. * * As a principle, God 
dwells with and in a temple that is holy ; but as 
a fact, he dwells in spiritual relations where im- 
purity is affirmed." (Moral Status of Infants, 
Salification, Tel., Oct. 22, 1879.) 

I have given this excellent Christian gentleman 
so much space that his position and argument may 
be fairly understood. Let us prayerfully look at 
it in the light of God's holy word. 

1. The bishop made a grave oversight when 
he said, "Our Savior clearly asserts that little 
childreft belong to his kingdom." The Scriptures 
give us no such assertion. Jesus said, "Of such is." 
Not that they "belong to," or are in it, or a part 

of it. 

2. When "Jesus called a little child unto him, 
and set him in the midst of them, and said, Verily 
I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and be- 
come as little children, ye shall not enter into 
the kingdom of heaven" (Matt. 18: 2, 3), it 
was not for the purpose of illustrating and 
teaching that his kingdom was full of innate cor- 
ruption and sin, but for the exact contrary. They 
had come to him, with hearts full of worldly am- 
bition, inquiring who would be his chief officers 
in the kingdom which they were expecting him 



DOCTRINE OF DOUBLE-BIRTH PERFECTION. 233 

to set up in visible, worldly form. He took the 
child, and rebuked their ambition. He always 
used the obvious to illustrate the abstruse, and 
never the reverse. The obvious — the visible — 
character of the child is the farthest removed 
from worldly ambition. He told them they must 
be converted and possess the humble, gentle, quiet 
spirit which is an obvious characteristic of the 
child; that there was no eminence to be achieved 
in his kingdom by means of worldly ambition. 
His kingdom is not of this world, and the means 
and methods of achieving worldly glory are the 
very means and methods to lose all in his king- 
dom. Humility marks the road to true greatness. 
Look at the unassuming child, and see what you 
must be if you would be truly great and highly 
appreciated by your Lord. 

3. "This unfitness for the kingdom of God," 
says the bishop, u is by birth, and not the result of 
what is done. It is an inheritance." 

And yet, notwithstanding their unfitness, he 
would have us believe that they are actually in the 
kingdom. This is rather startling. The king- 
dom of God is* represented to us in the sacred 
word as one of fitness, order, precision. But the 
bishop would have us believe that it is largely 
composed of material which is wholly unfit. "The 
holy kingdom in heaven and the spiritual king- 



234 TWENTY-EIGHT OBJECTIONS AGAINST THE 

dom on earth are all one," he says, truly. And 
the word says, "Unto the Son he saith, A scepter 
of righteousness is the scepter of thy kingdom." 
(Heb. 1 : 8.) And Paul declares "the kingdom of 
God is righteousness." (Rom. 14: 17.) Yet the 
Jrishop says there is a large infantile element in 
this kingdom, which is perfectly incompatible 
with righteousness. And his object in affirming 
this is to establish a principle or rule for the per- 
mission of moral pollution in this heavenly king- 
dom by which he may be able to show that there 
is also a large adult element of corruption in this 
righteous, holy kingdom. If this be granted, then, 
he thinks, the "second-work" sanctification is es- 
tablished, as a matter of course. And this is the 
main point. 

4. The bishop tells us, "As a principle, [that 
is, as a rule,] God dwells with and in a temple 
that is holy; but as a fact, he dwells in spiritual 
relations where impurity is affirmed." He speaks 
with obvious timidity. But he plainly teaches 
that God's rule is to dwell in none but holy souls ; 
and yet, as a matter of fact, he acts like a vascil- 
lating man, sets aside the rule, and admits ele- 
ments into his kingdom which are "unfit for the 
kingdom of God." This is shocking theology. 
We have been taught "there is no variableness 
nor shadow of turning" in God. But this awful 



DOCTRINE OF DOUBLE-BIRTH PERFECTION. 235 

theology makes the character of Deity changea- 
ble to meet its exigencies. How shall we be as- 
sured that heaven is a place of changeless order 
if God varies from his own rules to let disorderly 
elements into his kingdom? How can we know 
that he will not finally allow confusion to pre- 
dominate and bring utter ruin ? We know he 
will not do this. Hence we know also that he 
does not now permit disorderly elements into his 
spiritual kingdom. He deals patiently and merci- 
fully with sinners ; but that is not recognizing 
them as saints. He will unconditionally save all 
who die in infancy; for they are not capable of 
compliance with conditions. But this rule of his 
merciful conduct, based on the atonement, does 
not now make them holy, nor constitute them 
members of his mystic body. 

5. The bishop says, "The necessity for this re- 
birth is founded on the nature of our first birth." 
Very well ; so it is. And Jesus tells us, "Except 
a man be born again, he can not see the kingdom 
of God." Regeneration, then, is the way into 
the kingdom of God. Have infants been regen- 
erated? If not, how are they in the family of 
God? In them resides the necessity for the re- 
birth. Has that necessity been removed? Re- 
generation ALONE CAN REMOVE THE NECESSITY FOR 

regeneration. And regeneration is the only way 



236 TWENTY-EIGHT OBJECTIONS AGAINST THE 

for fallen man to enter the kingdom of God. All 
unregenerate persons, therefore, are outside of 
that holy kingdom. 

Moreover, if the necessity for the re-birth re- 
sides in inherited moral impurity, and if the ne- 
cessity for regeneration is removed by regenera- 
tion, are we not forced to the conclusion that 
regeneration removes this moral impurity ? Most 
certainly ; for no necessity can be removed with- 
out the removal oi its cause. The cause of the 
necessity of regeneration is moral impurity, lie- 
generation removes the necessity, but not with- 
out removing the cause, which is impurity. There* 

FORE REGENERATION REMOVED ALL MORAL IMPURITY. 

This is the clear and inevitable conclusion from 
the two propositions given us by Bishop Castle 
and the Savior of mankind. They also lead us 
to the conclusion that infants are not members of 
Christ's kingdom. And if they were, "it would 
prove nothing concerning the moral condition of 
adult Christians; for while it is true that there 
are many points of coincidence in the infant with 
the character of the heavenly family, there are 
also many points of contrast. 

1. The infant is in a state of blank ignorance. 
Who can imagine this to be an element in God's 
spiritual kingdom? 

2. There are many things affirmed in God's 



DOCTRINE OF DOUBLE-BIRTH PERFECTION. 237 

■ 

word concerning all justified persons which are 
not affirmed of infants. Among these are the 
following: "Ye are washed." "Ye are sancti- 
fied." "Ye are justified." "By one Spirit are we 
baptized into onebody." "Transformed by the 
renewing of your minds." u Ye are the temple 
of God." "The temple of God is holy, which 
temple ye are." "The Spirit of God dwelleth in 
you." "Blessed with all spiritual blessing." 
"Christ in you. "In Christ." "I in you, and 
you in me." "New creature." "Holy brethren." 
"Ye are clean." "Purified by faith." 

All these items, and more, are affirmed of per- 
sons who, according to the highest second-work 
theologians, were "merely justified," and still in 
need of the "second work." And not one of 
them is affirmed of little children. Hence there 
is a yawning chasm of disparity between these 
two classes, of such fearful depth and width that 
the moral status of one proves nothing concern- 
ing the other. They are not in the same cate- 
gory. No spiritual kingdom can be in moral 
unity with them both in it. God dwells in every 
member of his spiritual family. Does he dwell 
in the child ? Whatever argument proves that he 
does will prove that it is holy, "The temple of 
God is holy." lie dwells not in an unholy tem- 
ple. Whenever the temple is defiled, moral ruin 



238 TWENTY-EIGHT OBJECTIONS AGAINST THE 

is the consequence. "If any man defile the tem- 
ple of God, him shall God destroy." 

If infants are in a state of moral pollution, — 
which has been proved by the bishop, — God 
dwells not in them. How, then, are they a part 
of his temple? How are they in his spiritual 
kingdom? Their case differs entirely from that 
of accountable persons; and the great, good- 
hearted Redeemer, who gave himself a ransom 
for all, will take care of those who leave the world 
in infancy. 

10 Scripture. — L Thess. 5: 23. 
"And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; 
and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and 
body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our 
Lord Jesus Christ" 

This is one of the standard texts with all the 
second-work theologians. They use it to prove 
that the Thessalonian brethren had never been 
sanctified, but only regenerated, or "justified" — 
"merely justified," as they are wont to express it. 
They say there could have been no propriety in 
Paul's praying God to sanctify them if they had 
already enjoyed that blessing. They also use it 
to show that the body may be sanctified as well 
as the soul, and that the Thessalonians lacked this 
item also. 



DOCTRINE OF DOUBLE-BIRTH PERFECTION. 239 

1. The careful reader will -readily notice that 
the apostle said nothing in this text about the 
sanctification of their bodies. Whatever may be 
true or false about this point, he said nothing 
about the sanctification of their bodies in this 
text. He prayed that they might be preserved 
blameless, soul, body, and spirit. They could 
not be preserved blameless before they were blame- 
less. The prayer, therefore, favors the idea that 
at least some of these brethren were already blame- 
less in spirit, soul, and body. 

2. It is certain that Paul believed some of 
them were holy. He says, "I charge you by the 
Lord that this epistle be read unto all the holy 
brethren." (verse 27.) 

3. It is also certain that there were some back- 
sliders among them. He says, "Now we exhort 
you, brethren, warn them that are unruly." 
(Verse 14.) Regenerate persons are not unruly. 
Some must have backslidden, and thus become 

unruly. 

4. Thus we see clearly that Paul was conscious- 
ly writing to two classes of persons — tho "holy" 
and the "unruly." 

5. But he writes to them as a whole, a body 
of believers, generally holy, but with exceptional 
cases, as there are in nearly all churches. 

6. If Paul believed the second- work doctrine, 



240 TWENTY-EIGHT OBJECTIONS AGAINST THE 

nothing can be more certain than that he preached 
it at Thessalonica when he labored personally 
among them ; for his affection for them was too 
great to neglect anything that would add to their 
good, as this doctrine certainly would if true. If 
the soul be not made pure in regeneration, noth- 
ing can be more important to know. Paul would 
appreciate this, and attend to it faithfully among 
those Christians whom he loved so much, at the 
very first opportunity. 

7. If he preached it to them they certainly em- 
braced it forthwith ; for we find that the doctrines 
which he did preach to them were speedily effect- 
ual, so that he says, "Our gospel came not unto 
you in word only, but also in power, and in the 
Holy Ghost, and in much assurance." (I. Thess. 

1:6.) 

8. Paul was greatly pleased and delighted with 

the effect which his doctrines had upon them, and 
the exemplary lives to which the word led them. 
Hence he says, "For this cause also thank we 
God without ceasing, because, when ye received 
the word of God which ye heard of us, ye receiv- 
ed not as the word of men, but, as it is in truth, 
the word of God, which effectually worketh also 
in you that believe." (I. Thess. 2 : 13.) He says 
their faith and charity and hope and labor of 
love were remarkably famous throughout the 



DOCTRINE OF DOUBLE-BIRTH PERFECTION. 241 

country round about. He says that he and the 
other apostles walked "holily, justly, and un- 
blamably" among them, and that they "became 
followers of us, and of the Lord, having received 
the word in much affliction [sore persecutions], 
with joy of the Holy Ghost." (I. Thess. 1: 6.) 

9. It is very clear that they had not only re- 
ceived and adopted all the doctrines Paul had 
preached to them, but actually walked in holiness, 
following the example of the holy apostles and 
of the Lord Jesus. His example surely was one 
ot holiness. Paul declares they became his fol- 
lowers, and "were ensamples [patterns] to all that 
believe in Macedonia and Achaia." (I. Thess. 
1: 7.) Hence we conclude that, 

10. Paul prayed not that they might for the 
first time become sanctified, but that the whole 
church, including the "unruly" ones, might be 
sanctified. He desired them all to enjoy the 
sanctifying power of the Holy Spirit. The un- 
ruly needed it. Hence he fitly says, "The very 
God of peace sanctify you wholly;' 7 that is, the 
whole church as a body. This language no more 
implies that they were all unsanctified, and had 
never been sanctified, than the praj 7 er of Jesus, 
"Sanctify them through thy truth" (John 17: 17), 
implies that his disciples had never been sancti- 
fied. He had, on that same evening and during 

1G 



242 TWENTY-EIGHT OBJECTIONS AGAINST THE 

that same interview, said, "Now ye are clean." 
Yet after this he prays, "Sanctify them." 

11. Paul says, "Love is the fulfilling of the 
law." John Wesley says, "Pure love reigning 
alone in the heart and life, this is the whole of 
Christian perfection." (0. P., page 22.) These 
two statements are perfectly harmonious. Well, 
the brethren at Thessalonica were not in need of 
instruction on this point; for Paul declares, "But 
as touching brotherly love ye need not that I 
write unto you : for ye yourselves are taught of 
God to love one another. And indeed ye do it 
toward all the brethren which are in all Mace- 
donia." (I. Thess. 4: 9, 10.) This settles the 
question. The church at Thessalonica was, as a 
whole, sound and correct both in doctrine and in 
practice. Both the apostles with the word, and 
God with his Spirit had taught them that Chris- 
tian perfection consists in a heart full of God's 
love. Paul declares they knew this, and prac- 
* ticed accordingly. They had received this doctrine 
in power and demonstration of the Spirit. Their 
faith, their love, their labor, their charity, and 
their godly example were remarkable and famous. 
Ko man can read this epistle without noticing 
these facts, for a large portion of it consists in 
Paul's eulogiums and congratulations over them. 



DOCTRINE OF DOUBLE-BIRTH PERFECTION, 243 

11. Scripture. — John 17: 17. 

" Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is 
truth" 

The theologians under review lay the stress on 
the words "sanctify them" They hold that the 
apostles needed sanctification; that they had 
never been sanctified; for if they had the Savior 
would have found no occasion for the prayer, 
"Sanctify them." The argument they pretend to 
draw from this text is precisely of the same char- 
acter as that which they pretend to draw from the 
text which we last noticed (10. Scripture. — I. 
Thess. 5: 23. "The very God of peace sanctify 
you wholly.") Let us honestly and earnestly look 
to God for wisdom, and earnestly and honestly 
look at this text, "comparing scripture with script- 
ure." Let us carefully note the following script- 
ural facts : 

1. It is common for the Savior and his apos- 
tles to exhort and command persons to do things 
which they had already done. 

2. If we carefully look into the third chapter 
of Paul's letter to the Colossians, we shall find 
several instances of this kind : 

(1) "Set your affection on things above." (Verse 2.) 

Can any one suppose that persons could have 

become "meet [fit] for the inheritance of the 



\ 



244 TWENTY-EIGHT OBJECTIONS AGAINST THE 

saints in light," and "complete in Him" (Christ) 
as these brethren were, (see Colossians 1: 12, and 
2: 10, 11.) without having their affection set on 
things above? The supposition would be utterly 
repugnant to all Bible truth and Christian experi- 
ence. No Christian is able to believe it. It is 
absolutely certain that they had their affection 
firmly fixed on "the hope which was laid up for 
them in heaven." (Col. 1 : 5.) Yet the apostle, 
fully aware of this fact, exhorts them to "set their 
affection on things above." 

(2) "Mortify your members."- (Col. 3: 5.) 
Had they not done this? Were they not still 
doing so? Certainly they had and were; for he 
says (Col. 2: 11), "Ye are circumcised with the 
circumcision made without hands, in putting off 
the body of the sins of the flesh by the circum- 
cision of Christ;" also Col. 3: 9, "Ye have put 
off the old man with his deeds." 

Does the objector say, "Paul wished them to 
continue mortifying their members?" I answer, 
Precisely so; and so did the Savior request the 
Father to continue sanctifying them— that is, 
keeping them sanctified who were already pure. 
(3) "Put off anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, 
filthy communication out of your mouth." (Col. 

3: 8.) 

Can we imagine that these brethren were stdl 



DOCTRINE OF DOUBLE-BIRTH PERFECTION. 245 

indulging "anger, wrath, and malice" toward one 
another, since the apostle says, "We give thanks 
to God, * * since we heard of your faith in 
Christ Jesus, and of the love which ye have to all 
the saints. * * * Epaphras * * declared 
unto us your love in the Spirit." (Col. 1 : 3, 4, 

7, 8.) 

None deny that the Colossians were sanctified. 
Yet if we should apply the principle of interpre- 
tation to Paul's language here last quoted which 
the double-birth theologians apply to our text and 
to the one preceding it (10), and to several other 
scriptures which we shall yet notice, we should 
conclude that the Colossian brethren were still 
continuing in the indulgence of "malice" and 
"blasphemy" — a thought which is too shocking 
for a moment's entertainment. Again he exhorts 
them : 

(4) "Put on mercy , kindness, humbleness of mind, 
meekness" (Col. 3 : 12.) 

Are we to suppose that they were still unkind, 
proud, irritable, and unmerciful; that is, revenge- 
ful? To this conclusion the apostle's language 
would inevitably lead us if we should apply to it 
the second-work rule of interpretation. Under 
the dorni nancy of their rule we should say, "How 
could the apostle exhort the Colossians to put on 
these graces if they had already put them on? He 



246 TWENTY-EIGHT OBJECTIONS AGAINST THE 

could not with any consistency. Therefore the 
Colossians were Ml of pride, malice, and kevesge 
—the ugliest of all passions. Surely they needed 
the second work." This would be just such rea- 
soning as they apply to our text, to I. Thess. 5 
23 ; John 15 : 2 ; Eph. 5 : 26 ; Eph. 4 . 23, and II 

Cor. 7 : 1. 

Dr. Wood says, "All these passages have refer- 
ence to Christians who are in a regenerate state, 
but not entirely sanctified ; and these scriptures 
imply or teach that their entire sanctification had 
not yet been wrought." (P. L., page 15.) 

There is not any more reason for saying that 
"all these passages have reference to unsanctified 
Christians," than there is for saying that the Co- 
lossians were unsanctified ; because Paul exhorts 
them to. put off the worst of vices and put on the 
commonest Christian virtues. If Paul's prayer, 
"God sanctify you wholly," and the Savior's pray- 
er, "Sanctify them through thy truth," "imply or 
teach that their [the persons to whom they had 
reference] entire sanctification had not yet been 
wrought," then Paul's language to the Colossians 
implies or teaches that they had not yet put off 
"anger, wrath, malice, revenge, and blasphemy," 
nor "put on humility, mercy, meekness, or kind- 
ness." Yet he speaks in the highest terms of their 
brotherly love, and also declares, "Ye have put 



pxnruiXK of double-biktu perfection. 247 

off* the old man with his deeds, and have put on 
the new man, * * wherein * * Christ is 
all and in all." He also calls them "holy and be- 
loved." They were holy, loving, a d beloved 
Christians. 

This same apostle, in his letter to the church at 
Rome, says, "Put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ." 
(Rom. 13: 14.) On the principle of interpretation 
adopted by these second-w T ork theologians, we 
should here conclude that the church at Rome had 
never put on Christ prior to the writing of Paul's 
letter to them as Christians, in which he says, 
"Being made free from sin, and become servants 
to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the 
end everlasting life." (Rom. 6: 22.) Here he 
says they are pure and holy. Yet at a later point 
in the same letter he exhorts them to put on 
Christ. How are we to understand him, seeing 
that no one can become a Christian without put- 
ting on Christ? Thus: In all cases of this kind 
we are to understand the apostle simply in the at- 
titude of the gospel glass and the gospel rule side 
by side before his pupil's face and eyes, so that 
they shall know of a certainty what a Christian 
is, and whether they fill the bill or not. He leaves 
no pupil in a quandery. 

3. If we turn now to John 15 : 3, we shall find 
that these apostles for whom Jesus prayed "sane- 



2 18 TWENTY-EIGHT OBJECTIONS AGAINST THE 

tify them," were already sanctified. Jesus said, 
"Now ye are clean through the word which I 
have spoken unto you." "Now ye are clean." 
If Jesus did not misrepresent their state, they 
were clean, pure, sanctified, holy. And it was on 
that same evening of the Passover in which these 
words, "Now ye are clean," were uttered, and in 
the same room where they eat that feast, or pos- 
sibly on their way from that room toward Geth- 
semane, that Jesus uttered the prayer in our text, 
"Sanctify them through thy truth." This much 
is absolutely certain : The prayer was ofiered 
subsequently to the declaration, "Now ye are 
clean." If then they were in need of a cleansing, 
a sanctifying, a deliverance from "inbred pollu- 
tion," it was not because they had never been 
sanctified, but because they had backslidden. It 
is not at all probable that they had backslidden 
quite so soon— although Peter certainly did back- 
slide far enough to lie three times and to curse 
and swear that same night. (Matt. 26 : 74.) 

There is no probability, however, that either of 
the eleven who were present when Jesus said, 
"Ye are clean," fell into sin before he uttered the 
prayer on the way to the garden. J udas was not 
in their company at either time. He had gone on 
his errand of mischief to inform the priests that 
his Lord would soon be in the garden, where they 



DOCTRINE OF DOUBLE-BIRTH PERFECTION. 249 

might seize him unobserved by the multitude. 
And if they had backslidden, and were conse- 
quently in need of sanctiiication, then the text af- 
fords no evidence in the case; for the doctrine un- 
der review says there must be a second change, 
another spiritual birth after the first, and prior to 
all backslidings, before a clean heart can be ob- 
tained. 

4. Thus we see that whether we suppose they 
had backslidden or that they had not, the text 
affords not the least evidence in the case. 

5. On the supposition that they had not back- 
slidden in two or three hours after Jesus pro- 
nounced them clean, the text affords an instance 
of the Savior's praying for a blessing upon his 
apostles which they were already enjoying. He 
prayed for their cleansing when he knew they 
were clean. Here was a precedent for the apos- 
tles, which they and millions of others have fol- 
lowed. Thus we hear Paul praying, "Grace be 
unto you, and peace rom God our Father and the 
Lord Jesus Christ" (Col. 1 : 2), w r hen, as every 
one knows, they were in the full enjoyment of 
both grace and peace. "And this I pray, * * 
that ye may approve things that are excellent." 
(Phil. 1: 10.) Are we to suppose that they did 
not already "approve things that were excellent V s 
Surely they approved the gospel, the plan of sal- 



150 TWENTY-EIGHT OBJECTIONS AGAINST THE 

• 

vatiou, its excellent author, and his holy apostles. 
Yet Paul "prays that they might approve things 
that are excellent." 

"The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with 
you." (I. Thess. 5 : 28.) Are we to believe that 
his grace was not already with them ? Surely re- 
generate persons have grace enough to keep them 
from sin. This is agreed to on all hands." 

"The God of peace sanctify you wholly." (I. 
Thess. 5: 23.) We have seeu that at least some 
of these Thessalonians were sanctified. And if 
we had not, yet it would now be sufficiently clear 
that since the Savior's precedent the apostle 
might, in strictest propriety, pray for the sanctifi- 
tion of persons already sanctified. 

6. We have been told by the theologians of 
the second-work theory that the prayer in our 
text had its first answer at Pentecost; that "Je- 
sus desired his apostles to tarry at Jerusalem till 
the roots of bitterness were taken out of them and 
their hearts were made clean." 

(1) But we have seen that their hearts were 
clean on the night of the betrayal. 

(2) We know too that it was for an entirely 
different purpose that they were to tarry at Jeru- 
salem. Jesus commanded them thus: "Tarry ye 
in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be indued with 
power from on high." (Luke 24 : 49.) 



DOCTRINE OF DOUBLE-BIRTH PERFECTION. 251 

(3) More power is what they needed. Power 
is what they waited for. Power is what they 
prayed for, day and night, for the space of about 
ten days. Power is what they obtained on the 
blessed Christian Sabbath. On that blessed Lord's- 
day morning, the inaugural of the gospel dispen- 
sation, the Christian Sabbath, there was such a 
manifestation of Holy-Ghost power, in all the dis- 
tinctive characteristics of that Almighty Embodi- 
ment of all excellency and loveliness as earth had 
never seen. 

(1) On that blessed first day of the week, first 
day of the inaugurated gospel dispensation, first 
day of visibly-attested (with forked flames) Holy- 
Ghost power, God's gospel ministers were fully 
prepared for the work before them. 

(2) They w T ere also prepared for the terrible 
opposition they were to meet. 

(3) This preparation was given in the midst of 
a very fine opportunity for work. There were 
probably not less than three millions of persons 
present. Many nations, and countries were repre- 
sented by persons who carried home the tidings 
of the extraordinary phenomena and events. 

4) The power in and with the extraordi- 
nary opportunity, and with the burning love 
for Jesus and his kingdom and immortal 



252 TWENTY-EIGHT OBJECTIONS AGAINST THE 

souls, set them to work in demonstration of the 
Spirit and with power. 

(5) The Spirit showed them how he would cer- 
tainly and powerfully enforce his own truth in the 
hearts and consciences of its hearers. 

(6) Every Christian, by asking, may have all 
the power he needs, to resist temptation, to bear 
trials, afflictions, persecutions, troubles, and 

crosses. 

(7) More power should be one of the objects 
of each Christian's constant solicitude and prayer. 

12. Scripture.— Bom. 12 : 1, 2. 

"I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies 
of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, 
holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable 
service. And be no conformed to this world: but be 
ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that 
ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and 
perfect will of God." 

1. This has sometimes been quoted in support ' 
of the assumption that the Roman brethren had 
never made a full consecration of themselves to 
God, and that therefore they had not proved the 
perfect will of God in obtaining sanctification. 

2. It is also assumed that Paul here teaches 
the sanctification of the body. To these proposi- 
tions we reply, 



DOCTRINE OF DOUBLE-BIRTH PERFECTION. 253 

1. Doubtless Paul assumes the doctrine of the 
sanctification of the body. 

2. John Weslej', quoting the passage, in a ser- 
mon on Christian perfection, drops out the words 
"holy, acceptable." 

3. I shall not inquire into his motive; but it is 
obvious to every one that Paul, in the text, re- 
quires the presentation of a holy body, and not of 
a sinful, polluted body to have it made holy. 
"Present your bodies holy," is the exhortation. 

4. If then the body must be holy on presenta- 
tion, it can not be presented for the purpose of 
having it purified and made holy. 

5. Hence there is not the least evidence in the 
text that their bodies were not already holy, but 
the contrary. 

6. If their bodies were holy, surely their souls 
were; for their souls would be sanctified on the 
same conditions that their bodies were. 

7. It is absolutely certain that the Roman 
brethren had been made free from sin. Paul de- 
clares, "But now being made free from sin, and 
become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto 
holiness, and the end everlasting life." (Rom. 
6 : 22.) 

The apostle makes no distinction here between 
inward and outward sin. He reckons all together, 
and says, "Ye are made free from sin." This in- 



254 TWENTY-EIGHT OBJECTIONS AGAINST THE 

eludes all s'n. Then, "Ye have your fruit unto 
holiness." Holy fruit can only proceed from holy 
hearts. Hence their hearts were holy. "A cor- 
rupt tree can not bring forth good fruit." They 
brought forth good fruit, "holy fruit? therefore we 
must°conclude they were holy. "Free from sin," 
and "fruit unto holiness," are expressions which 
can characterize none but the pure and holy. 
They were not "carnal, sold under sin," but "free 
from sin." 

13. Scripture. — I. Cor. 3 : 1-3. 

"And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as 
unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes 
in Christ. Ye are yet carnal : for whereas there is 
among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are 
ye not carnal, and walk as men?" 

There is no other text so much relied on as this 
by the double-birth theologians for evidence m 
• support of their doctrine. It is the first one 
quoted by Dr. J. A. Wood, in his "Perfect Love 
to prove that sanctification does not occur at the 
time of regeneration. It is the first one of several 
passages concerning which he says, "All these 
passages have reference to Christians who are in 
a regenerate state, but not entirely sanctified; 
and these scriptures imply or teach that their 



DOCTRINE OF DOUBLE-BIRTH PERFECTION. 255 

entire sanctification had not yet been wrought." 
(Page 15.) 

It is used with the utmost confidence by Bishop 
Castle in his elaborate answer to the question, 
"Can a man be born of God without being sancti- 
fied?" His entire comment on our text in that 
article is as follows: "The question, 'are ye not 
carnal, and walk as men?' may well be asked of 
many modern Christians, in view of the disaffec- 
tion that exists upon the part of one toward an- 
other. It will hardly do to say that they were 
not in a state of grace; for they are written to as 
being in the relation of 'babes in Christ.' In 
Christ and yet carnal. Could they be holy while 
in this condition? One charge made against them 
most clearly indicates a soul-condition that does 
not comport with entire sanctification. They had 
'envying' among them. The apostle would say 
that they were sinful in thought, in word, and in 
deed." {Tel, June 19, 1878.) 

1. The first question to be considered is, Were 
these Corinthians all Christians? The bishop 
assumes that they were. All who use the text in 
the interest of that doctrine must assume that 
they were all Christians; all in the regenerate 
state ; for if they were either unconverted or back- 
slidden, either in whole or in part, then they are 
no witnesses in the case. 






256 twenty-eight objections against the 

2. Were they all Christians? 
(1) If they were, then a sinner is a Christian, 
for Paul attributes to them—at least some of them 
— 1. A want of spirituality. 2. Carnality. 3. 
Envy. 4. Strife. 5. Division. Can men indulge 
all these and yet be Christians? Surely not. Envy 
is among the ugliest dispositions the human heart 
can indulge. No one can indulge it whose heart 
is not full of the love of the world ; and John de- 
clares, "If any man love the world, the love of the 
Father is not in him." (I. John 2: 15.) Surely 
no man is a Christian who is destitute of "the 
love of the Father." Envy is inseparably con- 
nected with the love of the world; and this is in- 
compatible with the love of God. But the love 
of God is shed abroad in the heart of every justi- 
fied soul by the Holy Ghost. (Rom. 5: 1, 2.) 
Envy includes enmity against its object. This is 
what produced the "strife among" them. There 
can be no strife where there is no enmity. And 
* enmity is the very reverse of love. Surely all dis- 
ciples of Christ have hearts fall of brotherly love. 
"By this shall all men know that ye are my dis- 
ciples, if ye have love one for another." Brotherly 
love is the invariable evidence of discipleship. It 
is an invariable characteristic of a child of God. 
But it is certain that some of them were destitute 
of brotherly love. Hence we know they were not 



DOCTRINE OF DOUBLE BIRTH PERFECTION. 257 

Christians. They were church-members, but not 
Christians. 

(2) If they were all Christians, then Paul was 
mistaken either when he attributed carnality to 
them, or else when he said, in his letter to the 
Romans. (Rom. 8 : 7, 8.) "The carnal mind is 
enmity against God : for it is not subject to the law 
of God, neither indeed can be. So then they that 
are in the flesh can not please God/' 

Some of the church-members at Corinth were 
carnal. They were possessed of the carnal mind. 
The carnal mind can not be subject to the law of 
God, therefore they were not subject to the law of 
God. But all Christians are subject to the law of 
God. John Wesley says, "Even babes in Christ 
are so far perfect as not to commit sin." Hence 
we see that these carnal, sinful, rebellious Corin- 
thians were not Christians. 

(3) God surely can not justify those who dis- 
please him. "They that are in the flesh can not 
please God." The carnal are in the flesh. These 
Corinthians were in the flesh. Therefore we 
must conclude that they were not Christians. 
They pleased not God. 

(4) Even Bishop Castle says they were sinners. 
Not only a few, but all of them are under his accu- 
sation as sinners. As we noticed above, he says 
"the apostle would say that they were sinful in 

17 



258 TWENTY-EIGHT OBJECTIONS AGAINST THE 

thought, in word, and in deed." There is no 
other way that men can be sinful, besides thought, 
word, and deed. If the bishop is half correct in 
his description of their moral character, then there 
must have been at least some sinners among them ; 
some who were unworthy the name Christian ac- 
cording to Mr. Wesley's standard that "even babes 
in Christ do not commit sin." 

(5) "Without charity I am nothing." (No 
Christian.) "Charity envieth not." They envied. 
They had not charity, and were not Christians. 

06) If some of them were over sinners,— which 
is a fact beyond all reasonable doubt,— (see text, 
and 5: 1)— then it can not be true that they were 
all in the regenerate state. And if they were not 
all in the regenerate state, then the second-work 
theologians have not a shadow of title to their 
case as evidence in the matter before us. If they 
were not all in the regenerate state, without any 
exception, and without any backsliding— as these 
•theologians assume,— then there can be no evi- 
dence drawn from their case in support of the 
doctrine that the soul is not made pure in regen- 
eration; and it is a bold abuse of Paul to say that 
he ever meant to teach such a doctrine. 

3. Having now proved that there were back- 
slidden, sinful church-members at Corinth, we 
proceed to notice that there were also holy, sane- 



DOCTRINE OF DOUBLE-BIRTH PERFECTION. 259 

• 

tified brethren in that church. In the sixteenth 
and seventeenth verses of this same chapter in 
which our text is recorded, Paul says, "Know ye 
not that ye are the temple of God, and that the 
Spirit of God dwelleth. in you? If any man defile 
the temple of God, him shall God destroy, for the 
temple of God is holy, which temple ye are." 

The following points are made very clear in 
these two verses : 

1. A human soul may be a temple of God. 
"Ye are the temple of God." 

2. God is very much displeased with a defiled 
human soul that has sufficient intelligence to be 
accountable. 

3. Therefore such a soul can not enjoy peace 
with God. 

4. Such a soul is in the way of destruction. 
"Him shall God destroy." 

5. That God dwells not in nn unholy temple. 
"The temple of God is holy.*' The defiled are 
not his abode, but objects of his indignation. 

6. That some of the Corinthians were positive- 
ly holy. "The temple of God is holy, which tem- 
ple YE ARE." 

In farther proof of this point see I. Cor. 6: 11, 
where Paul says, "And such were some of you: 

but YE ARE WASHED, but YE ARE SANCTIFIED, but Ve 

are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and 
by the Spirit of our God." 



260 TWENTY-EIGHT OBJECTIONS AGAINST THE 

They were sanctified "by the washing of regen- 
eration and renewing of the Holy Ghost." (Titus 

3: 5.) 

4. Thus it is made clear beyond all reasonable 

doubt that Paul, in his letters to the Corinthians, 
was consciously addressing two classes of persons; 
namely, backsliders and Christians. The back- 
sliders were carnal ; the Christians were, as all 
Christians are, pure in heart; holy temples of 

God, "SANCTIFIED." 

5. But Paul addressed the visible body of be- 
lievers as one body— as a whole church. As such 
they were not free from carnality and sin ; for 
there was "among them envy, strife, and division." 
But it is a slander on God to say that he can jus- 
tify a soul in the indulgence of these vices. The 
persons "among" them who did this (indulgence) 
were exceptional cases. Doubtless the majority 
of them were holy, sanctified temples of God; and 
as such Paul addresses them in the passages cited 

" (3: 16, 17; 6: 11). Their case is no evidence in 
the matter before us. 

14. Scripture.— II Cor. 7: 1. 

''Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, 
let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh 
and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God." 

1. If the Corinthians were all un sanctified 



DOCTRINE OF DOUBLE-BIRTH PERFECTION. 261 

when Paul wrote this text, it is certain that there 
had been a woful falling away among them which 
carried with it all who had not already backslid- 
den before he wrote the first letter. 

2. This is exceedingly improbable; for such an 
event would have so completely demoralized and 
ruined the church there that Paul would not have 
considered it worth the while to write them at all ; 
much less would he have addressed them with 
the endearing title, "brethren" (8: 1); and still 
less would he have "boasted of their charity to 
the church at Macedonia." (9: 2.) 

3. But it is certain that there were backslid- 
den, worldly-minded, self-conceited church-mem- 
bers among them. In proof of this, see remarks 
on "13. Scripture," and Paul's reference to 
those among them, who, ii\ the haughtiness of 
their self-conceit declared that Paul, the mighty 
apostle, was carnal and contemptible. (See 10: 
2, 10.) "I think to be bold against some who 
think of us as if we walked according to the flesh. 
* * For his letters, say they, are weighty and 
powerful, but his bodily presence is weak, and his 
speech contemptible." See also I. Cor. 5: 1, 5, 7, 
13, "It is commonly reported that there is * * 
among you, and such * * * as is not so much 
as named among the gentiles y that one should 
have his father's wife. * * Deliver such a one 



262 TWENTY-EIGHT OBJECTIONS AGAINST THE 

unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that 
the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord 
Jesus. * * Know ye not that a little leaven 
leaveneth the whole lump? Purge out therefore 
the old leaven, [such wicked, backslidden persons,] 
that ye may be [entirely] a new lump, as ye are 
[a large majority of you] unleavened. * * Put 
away from among yourselves that wicked person." 
In I. Cor. 3: 1st, 2nd, and the 5th chapter en- 
tire, and in II. Cor. 10: 2, 10, we are furnished 
with indisputable evidence that there were back- 
slidden, wicked church-members at Corinth. In 
I. Cor. 3:16,17; 5: 7; 6:11; and II. Cor. 6: 16; 
9: 2, we are furnished with indisputable evidence 
that there were holy, sanctified, charitable Chris- 
tians there. But no man can find a scrap of evi- 
dence in either of these epistles in support of the 
assumption that there was a class of unsanctified, 
regenerate persons there. How utterly groundless, 
then, must be the assumption that the brethren at 
* Corinth were all in an unsanctified, regenerate 
state. Hence there is no evidence in our text, nor 
in any other text in these epistles, in support of 
the double-birth doctrine. 

Our text, in connection with the preceding 
chapter, presents the following: 

1. The promises of God are ample evidence 
that he will sustain and support his children in a 



DOCTRINE OF DOUBLE-BIRTH PERFECTION. 263 

complete a perfect separation from all customs, 
practices, principles, associations, and alliances 
which are in any way or in any degree inconsist- 
ent with perfect purity of soul and body. 

2. That holiness takes hold of, directs, and con- 
trols the physical man as well as the spiritual. It 
brings the appetites, passions, and propensities of 
the flesh into sweet acquiescence with God's per- 
fect law of love, — pure love to God and man, — as 
really and as thoroughly as it does the affections, 
desires, motives, wishes, aspirations, and thoughts 
of the spirit. 

But Paul never taught that there could be such 
a thing as imperfect holiness, nor that man can 
perfect holiness. Holiness in man is always the 
product of the Holy-Ghost energy. "Not by 
works of righteousness which we have done, but 
according to his mercy he saved us by the wash- 
ing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy 
Ghost, which he shed on us abundantly through 
Jesus Christ our Savior." (Tit. 3 : 5, 6.) 

15. Scripture. — I. Peter 1: 16. 

"Be ye holy ; for I am holy" 

Dr. J. A Wood, in his "Perfect Love," page 15, 
says, "Do the Scriptures assume a distinction be- 
tween regeneration and entire sanctification ? 



264 TWENTY-EIGHT OBJECTIONS AGAINST THE 

They do. To sinners God says, 'Ye must be born 
again.' To the regenerate he says, 'Be ye holy; 
for I am holy.' These two classes of commands, in 
their various forms, are prominent through all the 
Gospels and Epistles.' " 

1. It seems a great pity that the doctor was 
not pleased to inform us how he found out that 
the command, "Be ye holy," is not addressed to 
every moral being. If he had been pleased to 
give us reliable evidence in support of his propo- 
sition, he would have accomplished what no other 
man ever did or ever will; and thereby he would 
have forever settled this whole question. If there 
exist the two classes of commands, and addressed 
to two classes of persons, which, the doctor says, 
"are prominent through all the Gospels and Epis- 
tles," no man could by any possibility render bet- 
ter service to his race than by elucidating the fact; 
for if this second-work doctrine were true, it 
would be the most important doctrine imagina- 

■ ble. 

2. The doctor's abundant ability to appreciate 

the theological value of the two classes of script- 
ures whose existence he affirms, would surely have 
moved him to collect at least a few specimens for 
the public good, and given us at least one of the 
scripture evidences which convinced him that the 
command, "Be ye holy," is addressed exclusively 
to "the regenerate." 



DOCTRINE OF DOUBLE BIRTH PERFECTION. 265 

The doctor well knew that he could give nei- 
ther; so he gives us instead a much cheaper arti- 
cle — namely, his ipse dixit and that of other men 
fallible as himself, as found in a church-creed, a 
church hymn-book and parasitic authors. He 
seems to have forgotten that the sacred Script- 
ures must settle this great question, or else he 
wished others to forget it and content them- 
selves with beggarly assumptions instead of evi- 
dence. 

3. Jesus said, "Thou shalt love the Lord thy 
God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, 
and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; 
and thy neighbor as thyself. There is none other 
commandment greater than these." (Luke 10: 
27; Mark 12: 31.) 

(1) These commandments are addressed to all 
men everywhere; for they are "tlfe first command- 
ments." (Mark 12 : 30. See also I. Tim. 1 : 9, 10. 
Law is for the wicked.) 

(2) They require perfect holiness ; for "there 
there is none other commandment greater than 
these." 

(3) They require perfection of moral charac- 
ter; for "on these two commandments hang all 
the law and the prophets." (Matt. 22 : 40.) Sure- 
ly holiness is required somewhere in "the law and 
prophets;" for "the end of the commandment is 



266 TWENTY-EIGHT OBJECTIONS AGAINST THE 

charity out of a pure heart, and of a good con- 
science, and ot a faith unfeigned." (I. Tim. 1 : 5.) 

(4) These commands require holiness by re- 
quiring "love to God supremely and love to man 
subordinate^." (Thomas Dick.) "He that lov- 
eth another hath fulfilled the law. * * And if 
there be any other commandment it is briefly 
comprehended in this saying— namely, 'Thou 
shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.' Love work- 
eth no ill to his neighbor. Therefore love is the 
fulfilling of the law." (Rom. 13 : 8-10.) 

(5) If Mr. Wesley, the father of the double- 
birth doctrine, is correct in his declaration, "Pure 
love reigning alone in the heart and life, this is 
the whole of Christian perfection," (0. P., page 
22), then he who obeys these two commands, 
which are undeniably addressed to all mankind, 

-will be a perfect" a Christian. 

4. That Dr. Wood committed a very grave 
blunder in the use of our text is placed beyond 
all reasonable doubt by the learned and inspired 
apostle when he says, 

"The law is not made for a righteous man, but 
for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly 
and for sinners, for unholy and profane, for mur- 
derers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for 
manslayers, * * for them that defile themselves 
with mankind, for men-stealers, for liars, for per- 



DOCTRINE OF DOUBLE-BIRTH PERFECTION. 267 

jured persons, and if there be any other thing that 
is contrary to sound doctrine; according to the 
glorious gospel of the blessed God, which was 
committed to my trust." (I. Tim. 1 : 9—11.) 

(1) It can not be claimed that this, refers ex- 
clusively to the ceremonial law, or anything else 
in the old dispensation; for it refers, to "every- 
thing that is contrary to sound doctrine, accord- 
ing to the GOSPEL." 

(2) All God's law is addressed to all men. 

(3) All his law includes all his commands. 

(4) Hence the command, "Be ye holy/' is ad- 
dressed to all men, without any exception. 

OBJECTION 25. 

The Sacred Scriptures are directly against it. 

Scripture 1. — James 2: 10, 

" Whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet of- 
fend in one point, he is guilty of all." 
• 1. It is agreed on all hands that a justified per- 
son is not a guilty person. 

2. It is admitted on all hands that every dis- 
obedient person is a guilty person. And our text 
declares that disobedience in one item involves all 
guilt. It is the whole indivisible soul of the creat- 
ure against the whole indivisible will of the Cre- 
ator. 



268 TWENTY-EIGHT OBJECTIONS AGAINST THE 

3. There are several commands in God's word 
which can not be obeyed without becoming or bei 

ing holy. 

(1) "Be ye holy." (L Peter 1:16.) No one 
can obey this without becoming holy. Remain- 
ing unholy, he remains in disobedience and guilt. 
In guilt, he is not justified, but condemned; not a 

Christian. 

(2) " Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all 
thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy 
mind, and with all thy strength." (Mark 12: 20.) 
No one will deny that' this is addressed to every 
accountable member of the human family. Cer- 
tain it is that no unholy heart can obey it. Equal- 
ly certain it is that no accountable member of the 
race can be justified until the moment when he 
commences obedience. The justification of a 
heart in disobedience would be the inaugural of 
anarchy. Hence we see that God never pronoun- 
ces a soul just till it is in perfect harmony with 
all the requirements of this holy command. And 
this involves Christian perfection. 

(3) "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself" 
(Mark 12: 31.) No one can be justified till he 
comes into a state of harmony and obedience to 
this holy command. And no one can do this with- 
out coming into harmony with all God's law. 
"For he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law. 



DOCTRINE OF DOUBLE-BIRTH PERFECTION. 269 

* * If there be any other commandment, it is 
briefly comprehended in this saying, Thoii shalt 
love thy neighbor as thyself." (Rom. 13: 8, 9.) 
Thus Paul recognizes the fact that the soul which 
harmonizes with this commandment also harmo- 
nizes with all the requirements of God's law. 
And every man knows that this involves holiness, 
—Christian perfection ; for holiness is its central 
requirement, the embodiment of all its require- 
ments. 

(4) "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father 

which is in heaven is perfect" (Matt. 5 : 48.) 

a. We must not forget that this is a positive 
command addressed to every accountable individ- 
ual ; for "the law is not made for a righteous man, 
but for the lawless and disobedient, * * and for 
everything that is contrary to sound doctrine, 
according to the glorious gospel." (I. Timothy 

1 : 9-11.) 

b. Nor may we forget that all disobedience in- 
voles guilt; and all guilt holds the soul under con- 
demnation, excluding justification. 

c. So we see clearly that whoever falls short of 
obedience to this holy commandment of the ever- 
blessed King of glory mast be reckoned as a dis- 
obedient, condemned sinner. ""Whosoever ofFend- 
eth in one point is guilty of all." (See our text.) 

d. Of course, the perfection required is not an 



270 TWENTY-EIGHT OBJECTIONS AGAINST THE 

infallible intellect, nor an unfailing muscle, but 
moral purity; purity of will from purposes of 
rebellion; purity of motive, the glory of God; 
purity of affection, delighting only in that which 
is right, in moral beauty; purity of desire, in- 
dulging no wrong aspiration, nor an appetite in a 
wrong way or to a wrong extent. It is moral 

BEAUTY. 

e. No power but that of the Holy Ghost can 
bring the soul into this heavenly state, or keep it 
so. But he is abundantly able ; and when the 
soul surrenders its entire being, powers, and pos- 
sessions into his hands, trusting in the merits of 
Jesus' blood,- he is abundantly willing, and does 
it. For this let earth and heaven praise him for- 
ever. 

/. But let us not forget that the only escape 
from condemnation is in Christian perfection, as 
required by the holy command, "Be ye perfect" 

(5) "Be filled with the Spirit:' (Eph. 5: 18.) 

a. Here is a positive command. 

6. Disobedience and condemnation are insep- 
arable. Sanctified persons fall swiftly into con- 
demnation in the very moment of disobedience. 

c. Obedience to this command involves Chris- 
tian perfection. 

d. Thus, we see, the only escape from condem- 
nation is in Christian perfection; "for the fruit of 



DOCTRINE OF DOUBLE-BIRTH PERFECTION. 271 

the Spirit is in all [in whom he dwells] righteous- 
ness" (Eph. 5:9.) Righteousness is holiness. 
Wherever the Spirit dwells he produces holiness, 

(6) "Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfill 
the lust of the flesh" (Gal. 5: 16.) Disobedience 
to this command produces and perpetuates guilt. 
Obedience delivers from the carnal mind; that is, 
sanctifies and keeps clean. Condemnation or 
sanctifieation is the only alternative. 

A concession agreeing with the remarks on the 
last two scriptures quoted is found in Dr. Wood's 
"Perfect Love," page 244. He says, "Is the bap- 
tism of the Holy Ghost, or being filled with the 
Spirit, the blessing of holiness? It includes it. 
To be 'full of the Holy Ghost/ 'full of faith and 
the Holy Ghost/ 'full of faith and power,' and to 
be 'filled with all the fullness of God,' is to pos- 
sess full salvation or perfect love. To„be 'filled 
with all the fullness of God' is, however, much 
more than merely to be sanctified." These are 
just remarks, and lead to the conclusion that to 
"be filled with the Spirit," or to be "baptized with 
the Holy Ghost," is to be sanctified. The doctor 
justly uses the expressions, "Baptism of the Holy 
Ghost," and, "Filled with the Spirit," synony- 
mously. So he does all those similar expressions 
above quoted. Hence his remarks are in precise 
harmony with the remarks on the two scriptures 



272 TWKNTY-BIGHT OBJECTIONS AGAINST THE 

above. But they are surely inconsistent with his 
doctrine of the "second work," as we shall now 
more fully see. 

Scripture 2.— J. Cor. 12: 13. 

"By one Spirit are we all baptized into one body ; 
* * and have been all made to drink into one Spirit." 

1. Here it is placed beyond all reasonable 
doubt that it is by the work of the Holy Spirit 
that men are "delivered from the power of dark- 
ness, and translated into the kingdom of God's 
dear Son" (Col. 1: 13), into the mystic "body of 
Christ," "the family of God in heaven and .on 
earth," "saved by the washing of regeneration 
and renewing of the Holy Ghost, which he shed 
on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Lord" 
(Titus 3 : 5, 6) at conversion. 

2. This work of the Spirit in bringing the sin- 
ner out of Satan's family into the family of God 
is, in our text, as elsewhere, called a baptism. 
"Baptized into one body." This is the way all 
Christians come to be Christians. "Baptized with 
the Holy Ghost and with fire." "The Lord whom 
ye seek shall suddenly come to his temple ; * * 
he is like a refiner's fire and like fullers' soap." 

(Mai. 3: 1,2.) 
3. Well, the baptism of the Holy Ghost sane- 



DOCTRINE OP DOUBLE BIRTH PERFECTION. 273 

tifies the soul. On this we all agree. (See text.) 
And Paul, in our text, makes it indisputable that 
the soul is brought into the family of God by a 
Holy-Ghost baptism. By this baptism it is regen- 
erated, "born of water and of the Spirit;" that is, 
born of the Spirit by its cleansing power, refined 
and purified like silver by the "baptism of the 
Holy Ghost and fire; that is, regenerated* by the 
refining, purifying, zeal-inflaming, and witnessing 
power of the Holy Spirit. 

4. Thus it is an indisputable fact that the soul 
is sanctified by a Holy-Ghost baptism, and made 
pure as snow in the moment of regeneration. 

Scripture 3. — Bom. 8: 9. 

• 

" Ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be 
that the Spirit of God dioell in you. JSoio if any 
man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his." 

1. "The flesh" here is the selfish, depraved, 
carnal state of the fallen soul. To be in the flesh 
is to be in an unholy state, as all agree. 

2. To be in the Spirit is, as all agree, to be in 
the reverse or opposite state from the carnal. 

3. The central idea expressed in the text is the 
fact that all who have the Spirit of God dwelling 
in them are not in the fallen, depraved carnal 
state. "If the Spirit of God dwell in you, then* 

18 



274 TWENTY-EIGHT OBJECTIONS AGAINST THE 

ye are not in the flesh" — the carnal state, — but 

the opposite. 

4. It is a settled point that all Christians have 
the Spirit of God dwelling in them; for "if any 
man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of 
his." "For by one Spirit are we all baptized into 

one body." 

5. So, then, it is indisputably true that all 
Christians have the Spirit of God dwelling in 
them ; that all who have this are free from carnal- 
ity ; that all who are thus free are pure, sanctified, 
holy. All Christians, therefore, are holy. There 
is no such being as an unholy Christian. Let no 

ONE CALL HIMSELF A CHRISTIAN WHOSE HEART IS NOT 
IN PERFECT HARMONY WITH ALL God's LAW. 

Scripture 4. — Gal. 2: 20. 

"lam crucified with Christ: nevertheless Hive; 
yet not I, but Christ liveih in me : and the life which 
I now live in the flesh Hive by the faith of the Son of 
God." 

On these words Mr. Wesley remarks, "Words 
that manifestly describe a deliverance from inward 
>"as well as from outward sin. This is expressed 
both negatively, 'I live" not,'— my evil nature, the 
body of sin, is destroyed,— and positively, 'Christ 
liveth in me,' and therefore all that is holy and 



DOCTRINE OF DOUBLE-BIRTH PERFECTION. 275 

just and good. Indeed, both these, 'Christ liveth 
in me,' and, 'I live not,' are inseparably connected ; 
for what communion hath light with darkness, or 
Christ with Belial?" (C. P., page 6.) 

When Mr. Wesley penned these words he wrote 
like a theologian. They are worthy the pen of 
any theologian that ever wrote. They are espe- 
cially worthy of our confidence aud serious con- 
sideration as coming from the eminent Father of 
the double-birth theology. Surely he would make 
no statements contrary both to the sacred word 
and to his favorite doctrine, especially when, as 
in this case, he was writing specifically on that 
doctrine. But nothing can be clearer than the 
fact that the statements are utterlv inconsistent 
with his favorite doctrine. But he had his eye 
only on one phase of his doctrine, forgetting all 
others, or he would surely have suppressed his 
thoughts in our text, or else he would have aban- 
doned his doctrine; for his doctrine admits, he ad- 
mits, all his followers admit, and God's word most 
clearly teaches, that he dwells in the heart of ev- 
ery regenerate person. Well, if this be admitted, 
and Mr. Wesley's reasoning on our text be ad- 
mitted, then we are carried inevitably to the con- 
clusion that every regenerate soul is sanctified. 
He says, 

(1. "Words that manifestly describe a deliver- 



276 TWENTY-EIGHT OBJECTIONS AGAINST THE 

ance from inward as well as outward sin." This 
includes all sin. 

(2. "'I live not.' My evil nature, the body of 
sin, is destroyed." This brings the soul to Mr. 
Wesley's idea of perfect purity, and no mistake. 

(3. "'Christ liveth in me,' and therefore all 
that is holy and just and good." [Lives in me.] 
"All the fullness of God." 

(4. "Indeed, both these, 'Christ liveth in me,' 
and, 'I live not,' are inseparably connected; for 
what communion hath light with darkness, or 
Christ with Belial?" 

a. First, Mr. Wesley informs us that Paul af- 
firms his complete moral purity and holiness. 

b. Then he points us to the apostle's evidence 
of the glorious fact. This evidence, he says, con- 
sists in two inseparable facts; namely, (1) "I live 
not;" (2) "Christ liveth in me." 

c. If it be true, as Mr. Wesley says, that these 
two facts "are inseparably connected," then it must 
be true, beyond all doubt, that whenever Christ 
lives in a soul, that soul is dead to sin and alive 
to holiness. Why could not Mr. Wesley under- 
stand that the same cause — an indwelling Christ 
— would produce the same effect — holiness, in all 
other cases as well as that of Paul? Who can 
tell? 



DOCTRINE OF DOUBLE-BIRTH PERFECTION. 277 

Scripture 5. — John 8: 36. 

"If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall 
be free indeed:' "The letter killeth, but the Spirit 
giveth life. .* * * Now the Lord is that Spirit: 
and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty: 7 
(II Cor. 3; 6, 17.) "For the law of the Spirit of 
life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law 
of sin and death" (Bom. 8 : 2.) 

1. Here is a liberty— a freedom — spoken of. 

2. This liberty is freedom from sin in every 
sense of the word. 

3. This liberty or freedom from sin is always 
produced by "the Spirit of life." 

4. "Wherever the Spirit of the Lord is [dwells 
in the heart] there is liberty. 

Wherever he dwells in a heart, he forthwith 
sets it free. Bondage to sin is utterly inconsist- 
ent with his indwelling presence. He will not 
dwell approvingly in any heart where he can not 
have things in his own way. Wherever he has 
his own way sin is entirely absent. 

5. As we have repeatedly noticed, this Spirit 
of life dwells in every regenerate heart. On this 
point all agree. 

6. Thus again we are borne irresistibly to the 
conclusion that every regenerate heart is free and 



/ 



278 TWENTY-EIGHT OBJECTIONS AGAINST THE 

pure from sin. " Whom the Son maketh free they 
are free indeed" God's great plan of salvation, as 
revealed in his word, knows nothing about half 
freedom. It recognizes bondage in the sinner and 
freedom in the Christian. One is Satan's slave^ 
the other is Christ's free man. Let no lip utter 
the slander on my Redeemer that he ever half 
liberates a soul, leaving the other half in satanic 
bondage. It is too vile a caricature of his glorious 
work and his all-glorious character. 

Scripture 6. — Rom. 8 : 17. 

" And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and 
joint-heirs with Christ ; if so be that we suffer with 
him, that we may be also glorified together" "He 
saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renew- 
ing of the Holy Ghost; which he shed on us abun- 
dantly through Jesus Christ our Savior; that being 
justified by his grace, we should be made heirs accord- 
ing to the hope of eternal life" {Titus 3: 5-7.) 

1. Here we find that justification and regener- 
ation occur at the same moment. On this we are 
all agreed. 

2. Here we also find that heirship to eter- 
nal life commences at the moment of regen- 
eration. "If children, then heirs." "That being 



• DOCTRINE OF DOUBLE-BIRTH PERFECTION. 279 

justified we should be made heirs." On this all 

agree. 

3. This heirship entitles to eternal life in 
heaven. "Heirs according to the hope of eternal 

life." 

4. This heirship to God,— to God's estate and 
the enjoyment of his presence at his home,— this 
title, is a good one. It holds; for it is a joint- 
title with that of Christ. His title is valid. Ev- 
ery child of God has one just as valid; for it is 
incorporated with his. This is good enough. 

5. To the actual occupancy of the estate to 
which every child of God is an heir and holds a 
title, there a solitary condition— only one. That 
condition is simply clinging to the title as it is. 
u Joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suf- 
fer with him, that we may also be glorified to- 
gether." 

"If ye continue in the faith grounded and settled, 

and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel" 
(Col. 1 : 23.) The only "if" is in regard to perse- 
verance. "He that endureth to the end shall be 
saved" (Jesus.) 

6. If the final occupancy of the estate were 
suspended on any other condition besides the one 
mentioned in our text, surely Paul would have 
mentioned it in the same connection. Nothing 
could be more important. But he has not done 



280 TWENTY-EIGHT OBJECTIONS AGAINST THE* 

so anywhere. If the second work — the "instanta- 
neous deliverance after justification" — be an indis- 

a 

pensable prerequisite to fitness for the occupancy 
of the mansion in heaven, then Paul committed 
an omission of the gravest character, not only in 
his letters to Rome and to Titus, but in all his let- 
ters, for he never mentions it once. 

7. It is a grave impeachment of the justice of 
God to say that he bestows a legal title to a home 
in heaven upon a soul so full of corruption that 
he is utterly unfit to occupy it. He never can do 
such work. 

8. Mark you: the title is "in accordance with 
the hope of eternal, life." Can any one hope for 
eternal life in heavenly felicity with a heart full 
of corruption ? It would be madness of presump- 
tion. Only "the pure in heart shall see God." 
How^ then- can this heirship be "according to the 
hope of eternal life," when bestowed on a polluted 
soul ? The supposition is simply absurd. 

9. Since, then, the Scriptures plainly declare 
that every regenerate soul is an heir of God, and 
of heaven, — for God is greater than heaven ; since 
they plainly teach that every regenerate soul is in 
actual possession of and communion with the 
holy, the lofty One, who inhabits eternity and the 
hearts and praises of all his children, declaring, "I 
will dwell in them and walk in them;" since this 



DOCTRINE OF DOUBLE-BIRTH PERFECTION. 281 

heirship is conferred only in accordance with the 
"hope of eternal life;" since no one can rationally 
hope to enjoy that eternal life without a clean 
heart; since it is utterly inconsistent with all 
rational ideas of God's justice to suppose that he 
can bestow a title to a holy inheritance upon a 
being who is "full of sin-," "carnal, sold under sin," 
and consequently utterly unfit for the occupancy 
and enjoyment of that inheritance; therefore we 
should do violence to all reason, common sense, 
the sacred Scriptures, and the honor of God, to 
suppose that he ever did or ever will bestow such 
a title apart from the fitness. The title without 

THE FITNESS WOULD BE ENTIRELY USELESS AND A MERE 
SHAM. 

Scripture 7. — L John 4 : 12. 

"If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and 
his love is perfected in us" 

1. According to Mr. Wesley, and according to 
the entire New Testament, Christian perfection 
consists in "pure love reigning in the heart." 
On this we all agree 

2. According to our text, this pure love 
reigning in the heart is evinced by two items; 
namely, 1. "Brotherly love" and 2. "God dwelling 
in us" 



282 TWENTY-EIGHT OBJECTIONS AGAINST THE 

3. Both these begin at the moment of regener- 
ation. On this there is no dispute. The Script- 
ures most positively affirm it, and our opponents 
do not deny it. Paul says with undisputed refer- 
ence to every justified soul, "The love of God is 
shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost, 
which is £iven unto us." (Rom. 5: 5.) Mr. 
Wesley quotes this with reference to every justi- 
fied soul. (Christian Perfection, page 9.) 

This one passage clearly shows that both God 
and his love take possession of the heart at the 
moment of conversion. "He that believetb on the 
Son of God hath the witness in himself." "And 
it is the Spirit that beareth witness." (I. John 5 : 
8, 10.) This shows the living God in every true 
believer in Jesus. "God is love." Therefore, 
whenever he dwells in a heart, that heart is full 
of love. "Every one that loveth him that begot, 
loveth him also that is begotten of him." (I. John 
5 : 1.) This puts it beyond all dispute that every 
regenerate person loves all others. 

4. Thus it is obvious that our text alone sets 
this whole question at rest with all who carefully 
consider it. "If we love one another [which all 
regenerate persons do, then] God dwelleth in us, 
and his love is perfected in us." This love is 
Christian perfection. Thus Christian perfection 
dwells in every child of God. God has no imper- 



DOCTRINE OF DOUBLE-BIRTH PERFECTION. 283 

feet children. It seems passing strange that learned 
theologians could see so clearly that perfect love 
is Christian perfection, but could not see that ev- 
ery child, ot God has this perfect love, when it is 
so clearly taught that their hearts were filled with 
it in the first moment of their heirship in God's 
family. It is by the transfusion of this love with 
himself, who is love throughout the entire texture 
and substance of the soul, that God regenerates 
it. Its perfection in love is the inevitable conse- 
quence. As surely as Adam begat sons in his own 
likeness, so surely does God beget sons in his own 
likeness. 

Scripture 8. — L John 1 : 5-7. 

• 

"God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. 
If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk 
in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth: but if 
we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have 
fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus 
Christ his Son deanseth us from all sin" 

Here is one of the richest and most interesting 
passages in the Bible of God. It is at the same 
time one of the most simple and lucid passages 
anywhere to be found. Many errorists have 
trembled in its presence as a lamb would tremble 
in the presence of a lion. Here the conscientious 



284 TWENTY-EIGHT OBJECTIONS AGAINST THE 

seekers of truth, in contemplation of its richness, 
almost 

"Tremble with fullness of joy." 

We can not now attend to all the points of ih- 
'terest, but only those which are strictly apposite 
in this discussion. 

We notice briefly a few of the points here es- 
tablished bevond all reasonable doubt. 

1. No Christian — ["all justified persons are 
clearly Christians" — Castle] — walks in darkness. 
If we say we have fellowship with him [as surely 
all regenerate souls have], and walk in darkness, 
we lie." There is no such thing in God's family 
as walking in darkness. 

Thus it becomes obvious that all who could say 
with Bishop Castle, "I was plunged into the most 
excessive gloom," believing that they were at the 
same time in the regenerate state, greatly misun- 
derstood both their moral state and the word of 
God in our text; for, 

2. All who have fellowship with God, "walk 
in the light as he is in the light." "God is light," 
and he "dwells in his children and walks in them," 
and they dwell in him. "I in you, and you in 

me." 

3. God and his children hold sweet fellow- 
ship AND COMMUNION ONE WITH THE OTHER. This is 

the most glorious fact of which we as yet have 



DOCTRINE OF DOUBLE-BIRTH PERFECTION. 285 

any knowledge or conception. "Fellowship one 
with another." "I -will come in to him, and sup 
with him, and he with me." (Rev. 3: 20.) 

4 As Dr. Clarke savs on the text, "'The blood 
of Christ' — the meritorious efficacy of his passion 
and death — has purged our consciences from dead 
works, and clean seth us, continues to cleanse us; 
that is, to keep clean what he has made clean, for 
it requires the same merit and energy to preserve 
holiness in the soul of man, as to produce it." All 
will accept these remarks. 

With this view agree precisely the words of 
Mr. Wesley when he says, "Christ does not give 
life to the soul separate from but in and with him- 
self. Hence his w r ords are equally true of all men, 
in whatsoever state of grace they are, 'as the 
branch can not bear fruit of itself except it abide 
in the vine, no more can ye, except ye abide in. 
me; without [or separate from ] me ye can do 
nothing/ * * * For our perfection is not like 
that of a tree, which flourishes by the sap derived 
from its own root, but as was said before, like 
that of a branch, which united to the vine bears 
fruit, but severed from it, is dried up and wither- 
ed." (C. P., page 16.) Again he says, "The ho- 
liest of men still need Christ as their prophet, as 
the light of the world ; for he does not give them 
light, but from moment to moment, the instant he 



286 TWENTY-EIGHT OBJECTIONS AGAINST THE 

withdraws, all is darkness. They still need Christ 
as their king; for God does not give them a 
stock of holiness. But unless they receive a sup- 
ply every moment, nothing but unholiness would 
remain." (0. P., page 30.) 

Certainly,, all the "second-work" people will re- 
ceive these excellent words from their venerable 
father. They are surely correct. 

5. Isaiah says, "Come, let us walk in the light 
of the Lord." (Isa. 2 : 5.) God's truth is light. 
Paul says, "Whatsoever makes manifest is light." 
(Eph.5: 13.) Again he says, "We walk by faith, 
not by sight." (II. Cor. 5: 7.) We walk in the 
light of God's truth "as seeing him who is invisi- 
ble." (Heb. 11: 27.) The Thessalonians, of 
whom all the "second-work" authors say they 
were in need of the second work, because Paul 
prayed, "The very God of peace sanctify you 
wholly," are by that same apostle called "the 
children of light." (I. Thess. 5: 5.) Jesus said, 
"I am the light of the world : he that followeth 
me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the 
light of life." (John 8: 12.) Do not all regener- 
ate persons follow him ? No one will deny that 
they do, Well, then, all regenerate persons "walk 
in the light of life," Here Jesus expresses pre- 
cisely the second grand idea expressed in our text; 
namely, every follower of Jesus walks in the light 



DOCTRINE OF DOUBLE-BIRTH PERFECTION. 287 

of God. Well, our text declares of all such that 
"the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us 
from all sin." 

6. So then our text irresistibly bears us to the 
conclusion that all Christians, — not "hope-so" j 
Christians, nor "have-been" Christians, but now 
Christians — are now "cleansed," and now being 

kept cleansed "from all sin." "Every one that 
loveth, is born of God, and knoweth God. He 
that loveth not, knoweth not God ; for God is 
love." "He that loveth his brother abideth in the 
light, and there is none occasion of stumbling in 
him." ! 

Every Christian loves every other Christian ; 
because they have a common parentage, a common 
nature, a common Savior, "have been baptized by 
the same Spirit into the same family, drank of 
the same Spirit," and have the same "love of God 
shed abroad in the heart by the same Spirit. They 
all love one another. Well, he that loveth his 
brother, abideth in tlH light," and "if he walk in 
the light, he has the present, perfect cleansing." 
"The blood cleanseth" at the present moment. 
It "cleanseth from all sin." That means a per- 
fect work. It brings him to Christian perfection. 

7. The intelligent reader will be interested to 
know how Mr. Wesley gets his doctrine over our 
text. Let us therefore hear the eminent father of 



288 TWENTY-EIGHT OBJECTIONS AGAINST THE 

the double-birth doctrine on this text, which is so 
dreadfully against it. The divine says, "And 
again; 'If we confess our sins, he is faithful and 
just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from 
all unrighteousness.' Now, it is evident the apos- 
tle here speaks of a deliverance wrought in this 
world; for he saith not, the blood of Christ will 
cleanse, (at the hour of death, or in the day of 
judgment,) but it cleanseth at the time present, 
us living Christians, from all sin. And it is equally 
evident that if any sin remain, we are not cleansed 
from all sin. If any unrighteousness remain in 
the soul, it is not cleansed from all unrighteous- 
ness. Neither let any say that this relates to jus- 
tification only, or the cleansing us from the guilt 
of sin; first, because this is confounding together 
what the apostle clearly distinguishes, who men- 
tions, first, to forgive us our sins, and then to 
cleanse us from all unrightousness ; secondly, be- 
cause this is asserting justification by works, in 
the strongest sense possible* It is making all in- 
ward as well as all outward holiness necessarily 
previous to justification; for if the cleansing here 
spoken of is no other than the cleansing us from 
sin, then we are not cleansed from guilt; that is, 
not justified, unless on condition of walking in 
the light, as he is in the light." (C. P., page 7.) 
I have given Mr. Wesley's entire argument to 



DOCTRINE OF DOUBLE-BIRTH PERFECTION. 289 

avoid all unfairness, and because the first half of 
his remarks are excellent on present purity. 

(1) The unbiased reader can not overlook the 
fact that Mr. Wesley here carefully ignores regen- 
eration, and recognizes no other cleansing in con- 
nection with justification than a "cleansing from 
the guilt of sin." He ought to have known, as 
everybody else well knows, that there can be no 
such thing as cleansing from guilt. It is absurd 
to talk of such a thing. Guilt may be remitted, 
pardoned, forgiven, but not cleansed. Cleansing 
can have no other object but pollution — the cor- 
rupt nature of the soul. Guilt is the attitude of 
the soul with respect to law and penalty. The 
guilty soul lies at the feet of Justice, a prisoner in 
chains. Pollution is a nature of the unregenerate 
soul which, if not washed away,- — cleansed, — 
would immediately plunge it into guiijb as fast as 
sovereign mercy could speak its pardon. "A cor- 
rupt tree can not bring forth good fruit." Hence 
bad fruit and consequent guilt would be the inev- 
itable product of every motion of the soul. Par- 
don would be of no more use to the polluted soul 
than laughing mockery. If Mr. Wesley had men- 
tioned — in connection with pardon — "the washing 
of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost," 
— Titus 3: 5, — which he well knew is an invaria- 
ble concomitant of justification, he would have 

19 



290 TWENTY-EIGHT OBJECTIONS AGAINST THE 

brought before the mind a real cleansing. But 
this is what he was not interested to do. This 
would have fully shown the lucidness of the apos- 
tle's expressions concerning two divine acts with- 
out the least need of Mr. Wesley's second moral 
* 

birth to explain his meaning. 

(2) John used two words, "forgive," and 
"cleanse/' to express the two ideas attached to 
them respectively, simply because he could not 
express both ideas with one word. But this af- 
fords not a shadow of evidence that he believed 
the two divine acts are chronologically separated, 
and do not occur at the same time. He was sim- 
ply obliged to mention one idea before he men- 
tioned the other — from the consideration stated, 
that he could not mention both at once. Paul, in 
some cases, mentions the cleansing first. "And 
such were some of you ; but ye are washed, but 
ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name 
of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God." 
XI. Cor. 6: 11.) (See also Titus 3: 5, 7.) 

Did Paul intend a chronological separation of 
the divine acts of "washing and justifying," and in 
the order here stated ? If so, then we must regard 
the "second work" as consisting of justification, 
and that a good while after sanctification. They 
occur simultaneously. 

(3) Mr. Wesley thinks that "if no other cleans- 



DOCTRINE OF DOUBLE-BIRTH PERFECTION. 291 

ing but that of justification is intended by the 

apostle, then he teaches justification by works, 

and that walking in the light is the works upon 
which the divine clemency is conditioned. 

To this we may remark, that if "walking in the 
light" is works, then Mr. Wesley himself une- 
quivocally teaches the doctrine of sanctification by 
works; for he here suspends it on the condition 
of "walking in the light." The argument he ad- 
duces strikes his own theory with far greater mo- 
mentum than it does anything else. "They who 
live in glass houses should be careful about throw- 
ing stones." Mr. Wesley would have acted more 
judiciously by ignoring this text altogether. But 
his effort to harmonize it with his doctrine affords 
us the best evidence of their irreconcilable antag- 
onism. Such an effort is hopeless. 

John plainly teaches that pardon and "cleans- 
ing from all unrighteousness" occur at the same 
moment. 

8. We do well to remember the following 
points: 

(1) Our text mentions only one act of Deity; 
namely, "cleansing from all sin." 

(2) Every soul must proceed — "walk" — in ac- 
cordance with the light of divine truth in order to 
obtain pardon. 

(3) The "walk in the light" Is a walk of faith. 



292 TWENTY-EIGHT OBJECTIONS AGAINST THE 

"We walk by faith, not by sight." Every soul 
starts in the march of faith before he reaches ei- 
ther pardon or purity. "Therefore being justified 
by faith, we have peace with God." 

(4) Faith is not works. "By grace are ye 
saved through faith ; * * * not of works, lest 
any man should boast." (Kph. 2: 8, 9.) 

(5) The soul must have both pardon and pu- 
rity before it can have peace; for "there is no 
peace, saith God, to the wicked." And every un- 
cleansed soul would, if pardoned this moment, be 
wicked the next, just as sure as "a corrupt tree can 
not bring forth good fruit," nor a "bitter fountain 
send forth sweet water." 

(6) Therefore John, by order of the Spirit, set 
forth pardon and purification as occurring at the 
same moment, for the benefit and comfort of both 
the unconverted and the sanctified. They both 
need it as a means of comfort; for the former are 
in sin, and the latter are liable to fall into sin. 
And when they do fall, they need, first of all 
things, to know just what John tells them, that, 
"If we confess our sins, [not throwing ourselves 
back on our religious dignity, but humbly at the 
mercy-seat confess,] he is faithful and just to for- 
give our sins, and [not only so, but even again,] to 
cleanse us from all unrighteousness," as he did at 
the first; for every sin makes a stain, and throws 



DOCTRINE OF DOUBLR-BIRTH PERFECTION. 293 

the soul back into the unsaved state. To all such 
God says, "I have somewhat against thee, because 
thou hast left thy first love. Remember therefore 
from whence thou art fallen; and repent, and do 
the first works; or else I will come unto thee 
quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of 
his place, except thou repent." (Rev. 2 : 4, 5.) 
And those who do repent and confess will obtain 
mercy, pardon, and purification again as at the 
first. If they do the first works, they will again 
obtain first love and the same purification as at 
the first. 

Scripture 9. — I. John 3: 7, 8. 

"He that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as 
he is righteous. He that committeth sin is of the 
devil" 

1. It is a very easy matter for the vilest of 
sinners to do many acts which, abstractly consid- 
ered, are right. They are capable of doing many 
acts which, considered only with respgct to the 
mechanical performance, their effects upon others, 
the social, political, and domestic relations of their 
agent, are precisely as good as if performed by the 
most pious and devoted saint on earth. Food, 
clothing, schooling, and church-privileges provid- 
ed by a wicked father, are as really good for the 



294 TWENTY-EIGHT OBJECTIONS AGAINST THE 

child as if provided by a saint. A chapter may 
be read and a piece of music performed as cor- 
rectly by a rascal as by a Fenelon. 

2. Thus it is plain, that if we were to interpret 
our text in the light of the Rev. Professor Samuel 
Franklin, A. M., as given in his elaborate and 
scholarly "Review of Wesleyan Perfection," page 

241. 

"Christian perfection is an outward work." 
(Page 229.) "It was the outward keeping of the 
command of God which generically and summari- 
ly was embraced in the words, 'Walk before me, 
and be thou perfect, 5 " we should find hosts of 
wicked men who are occasionally as completely 
"righteous," as thoroughly "perfect," as any saint 
on earth. There are very few, if any, who do not 
perform many acts which are externally righteous. 
If "he that doeth external righteousness is sure- 
ly righteous," then there are many righteous 
wicked men ; nay, there is not a constantly un- 
righteous man on earth. 

We should do crushing violence to God's word, 
as given by the hand of his servant John, were 
we to adopt this Franklinian view of Christian 
perfection. We should do violence to the entire 

word of God. 

Jesus after Isaiah said, "This people draweth 
nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoreth me 



DOCTRINE OF DOUBLE-BIRTH PERFECTION. 295 

with their lips; but their heart is far from me." 
(Matt. 15:8.) God says, "Man looketh on the 
outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the 
heart." (I. Sam. 16 : 7.) "Keep thy heart with 
all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life." 
(Prov. 4: 23.) "Know thou the God of thy fa- 
thers, and serve him with a perfect heart." (I. 
Chron. 28 : 9.) "For he is not a Jew, which is 
one outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which 
is outward in the flesh : but he is a Jew, which is 
one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the 
heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter ; whose 
praise is not of men, but of God." (Rom. 2 : 
28, 29.) 

3. Thus it is clear that heart- righteousness is 
the only righteousness with God. Mere mechan- 
ical actions performed by the muscles, in harmony 
with God's commands, amount to nothing byway 
of securing, at the eternal throne, a reputation 
for righteousness. Nothing but right heart- 
action can secure such a reputation before the 
throne. Paul says, "Though I bestow all my 
goods to feed the poor, and though I give my 
body to be burned, and have not charity, [love] it 
profiteth me nothing." (I. Cor. 1 3 : 3.) It is right- 
eous souL-action that John refers to in our text. 
"He that doeth righteousness" in the inward man, 
the heart, the soul, "is righteous ;" that is, holy, 

PURE, SANCTIFIED, PERFECT. 



• 



296 TWENTY-EIGHT OBJECTIONS AGAINST THE 

4. The only question now to be settled in or- 
der to settle this whole question is this : "Can a 

REGENERATE SOUL WHO HAS NOT HAD A SECOND MORAL 
BIRTH PERFORM A RIGHTEOUS ACT IN THE DEFINED 
AND REFINED SENSE OF OUR TEXT ? 

(1) If he can, then, according to our text, he 
"is righteous;" he is pure; he is holy. 

(2) If he can, if he does, then, according to 
"the faithful and true witness," "in whom are hid 
all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge," he 
is pure. This Witness says, "A good tree can 
not bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt 
tree bring forth good fruit." (Matt. 7 : 18.) 

Here is mentioned an impossibility. The trees 
of different characters are used to illustrate men 
of different moral characters. It is taught in the 
illustration that an impure heart can not originate 
pure actions. This is the impossibility. 

On the affirmative side of our exceedingly im- 
portant question we may remark : 

(1) If the soul in the regenerate state can not 
perform a righteous act in the refined sense of 
the text, then it surely needs a second moral birth ; 
and the double moral birth theology stands ap- 
proved as a Bible truth, and this writing is all on 
the wrong side of the question. 

(2) But further, if he can not do a righteous 
act, then his regeneration is useless. His heav- 



DOCTRINE OF DOUBLE-BIRTH PERFECTION. 297 

enly birth is a thing of no value to him, neither 
for parity nor for innocency; for the very first 
motion of the soul in thought, reasoning, motive, 
affection, choice, or will, must be evil, wrong, sin- 
ful. Every sinful act brings guilt. Pardon would 
be followed the next moment with guilt and con- 
demnation. 

- (3) If the regenerate soul can not do a right- 
eous act, then Mr. Wesley is surely in error when 
he savs, "Even babes in Christ are so far perfect 
as not to commit sin" (C. P., page 4); for if 
he can not do a purely righteous act, then of 
course his acts are all, like those of the common 
sinner, sinful without any exception. "Evil, only 
evil, and that continually." (Gen. 6: 5.) Evil 
without mixture of good, "only evil" and evil 
without cessation, "evil continually" He has 
gained simply nothing by his conversion if he can 
not do a purely righteous act. 

(4) If the regenerate soul can do no "right- 
eousness" in the sense of the text, then we are 
forced to the conclusion that regeneration secures 
no spiritual relationship to God; for John de- 
clares, in the tenth verse of the same chapter of 
our text, "Whosoever doeth not righteousness is 
not of God." Then he still remains a child of 
the devil, just as the text says, "He that comniit- 
teth sin is of the devil." In the early part of this 



298 TWENTY-EIGHT OBJECTIONS AGAINST THE 

work we saw that the double-birth doctrine makes 
the regenerate soul at least half a child of the 
devil. But now we see clearly that it places him 
entirely in Satan's family. There is no escaping 
this conclusion on the hypothesis that he is incap- 
able of righteous action in the sense of our text; 
that is, hi the purest sense. And if he is capa- 
ble of such action, then, as we have already no- 
ticed, he is righteous, according to the testimony 
of all Bible witnesses, as our text declares, "He 
that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as he [God] 
is righteous: 9 This places the regenerate soul in 
harmony with the Savior's command, "Be ye there- 
fore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven 
is perfect:' (Matt. 5:48.) 

Scripture 10.— Gal. 5: 24. 

"They that are Christ's hade crucified the flesh 
with the affections and lusts" ^ 

1. All agree that all converted persons belong 

to Christ. 

2. The text clearly states that all these have, 
as a matter of fact, "crucified the flesh with its 
affections and lusts." Who? "They that are 
Christ's." This embraces every regenerate per- 
son, without exception. 

3. This crucifixion of the flesh is. according to 



DOCTRINE OF DOUBLE-BIRTH PERFECTION. 299 

Mr. Wesley, as we noticed under "Scripture 4," 
"a deliverance from inward as well as from oat- 
ward sin." 

4. It is admitted on all hands that such deliv- 
erance places the soul in a state of perfect moral 
purity. The carnal, Adamic, fallen nature is cru- 
cified, and "subsists no more." 

5. All readily agree that God and his love take 
up their abode in the heart at the very moment 
of conversion. No one denies that, as Paul de- 
clares of every justified person, "the love of God 
is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost, 
which is given unto us." (Rom. 5:5.) 

6. Admitting, then, as all must do, that the 
expression, "They that are Christ's," embraces all 
regenerate persons, that all these "have crucified 
the carnal nature," and so emptied their hearts of 
all evil, and that at that moment God filled their 
hearts with, his presence and his love, — "for God 
is love," — we are carried irresistibly to the con- 
clusion that at that moment they are raised 
from the low estate of lost sinners to the exalted 
character of perfect Christians. They certainly 
have reached a state in which "pure love reigns 
alone in the heart and life." And this, Mr. Wes- 
ley after Jesus and Paul and the New Testament 
says, "is the whole of Christian perfection." 
"Love is the fulfilling of the law." How any un- 



300 TWENTY-EIGHT OBJECTIONS AGAINST THE 

biased mind can contemplate our text and con- 
clude that the carnal mind lives in the regenerate 
nature is beyond my comprehension. It seems 
impossible for an honest, careful thinker to do so. 
No doubt the profound Dr. Adam Clarke saw in 
our present text the infallible assurance of his 
position when he remarked on Gal. 5 : 16,— "Walk 
in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lusts of 
the flesh,"— saying, "If the Spirit of God dwell 
in and rule your heart, the whole carnal mind 
will be destroyed, and then * * the works and 
propensities of the flesh will be abandoned." 

Let no man imagine he is a Christian who is 
under the dominion of fleshly lusts. If he never, 
with the aid of almighty Power; "crucified his 
flesh with the affections and lusts," he was never 
born into the family of God, and is none of his. 
If he has submitted to that indispensable crucifix- 
ion, but failed to continue in it by suffering "roots 
of bitterness to spring up" from seeds thrown in- 
to his heart by Satan or his servants, or worldly 
objects through the channel of careless thought 
and his physical nature, then he "has fallen from 
grace," "left his first love," and needs to "remem- 
ber whence he is fallen, repent, and do his first 
works" (Rev. 2 : 4, 5), or eternal ruin will be his 
inevitable doom. 



DOCTRINE OF DOUBLE-BIRTH PERFECTION. 301 

Scripture 11.— II. Cor. 5: 17. 

" If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature : 
old things are passed away ; behold, all things are 

become new" 

1. Every one knows that this was never intend- 
ed to be understood as having reference to the 
physical part of our being— the outward, perish- 
ing man. Our flesh and bones are not made new 
by conversion. 

2. Every one knows equally well that conver- 
sion does not change our intellectual constitution. 
As the number, character, texture, and composi- 
tion of the bones, members, and muscles of our 
physical organism remain the, same after conver- 
sion as before, so the number, nature, office, and 
relations of the powers of our intellectual consti- 
tution also remain the same. True, they become 
much quickened, elastic, and buoyant, by conse- 
quence of the circumstances of joy, peace, con- 
sistency, and honesty of action, &c; but in other 
respects they remain the same. 

3. As we have but three natures,— the physical, 
the intellectual, and the moral,— and as the reno- 
vation spoken of in our text does not relate to the 
first two, it must relate to the third. There is a 
new creation in the moral realm at conversion. This 
is admitted on all hands. The only dispute over 



302 TWENTY-EIGHT OBJECTIONS AGAINST THE 

this text is in regard to the extent of this new ere- 
ation in the moral realm. 

I can scarcely find better words to express my 
view on this question than the words of the em- 
inent father of the very doctrine I am opposing 
throughout this entire volume. In a sermon on 
this same doctrine Mr. Wesley says: 

"4. We allow that the state of a justified per- 
son is inexpressibly great and glorious. He is 
born again 'not of blood, nor of the flesh, nor of 
the will of man, but of God.' He is a child of 
God, a member of Christ, an heir of the king- 
dom of heaven. 'The peace of God, which pass- 
eth all understanding, keepeth his heart and mind 
in Christ Jesus. 5 His very body is a temple of 
the Holy Ghost, a 'habitation of God through 
the Spirit.' He is created anew in Christ Jesus;' 
he is washed ; he is sanctified. His heart is puri- 
fied by faith ; he is cleansed 'from the corruption 
that is in the world.' 'The love of God is shed 
* abroad in his heart by the Holy Ghost, which is 
given unto him.' And so long as he 'walketh in 
love' (which he may always do), he worships God 
in spirit and in truth. He keepeth the command- 
ment of God, and doeth those things that are 
pleasing in his sight, so exercising himself as to 
'have a conscience void of offense toward God 
and toward man;' and he has power both over 



DOCTRINE OF DOUBLE-BIRTH PERFECTION. 303 

outward and inward sin, even from the moment 
he is justified.' 

(1) There is but one additional word that Mr. 
Wesley could have employed to express the moral 
dignity of the regenerate soul. That word is 
"holy." Yet he says he is "sanctified" and "puri- 
fied." These two terms express all that can be 
expressed by the term "holy." And he says, "He 
keepeth the commandments of God." This puts 
the whole matter to rest. One of God's com- 
mands is, "Be ye holy." If he keeps this com- 
mand he is, of course, holy. And if he is sancti- 
fied, purified, and is holy, which he must be to 
"keep the commandments of God," then he is 
holy, of course; and this settles the whole ques- 
tion. "He that doeth righteousness is righteous, even 
as he is righteous" (I. John 3 : 7.) 

(2) Mr. Wesley made these broad, all-sufficient 
concessions, a. because he could not do less. The 
exigencies of the situation demanded it. The 
points are undeniably set forth in the sacred 
Scriptures. 6. He seems to make them in the 
hope that his seeming fearlessness of them will 
inspire his readers with the confidence that they 
are not antagonistic to hfs doctrine. The charac- 
teristics which he attributes to the regenerate 
soul plainly indicate that it is in the full enjoy- 
ment of what he elsewhere calls "Christian per- 
fection" 



304 TWENTY-EIGHT OBJECTIONS AGAINST THE 

He says positively that the justified soul is 
"sanctified." This is the term commonly em- 
ployed throughout Christendom, and especially 
among the double -birth theologians, Mr. Wesley 
included (C. P., Q. 16), to designate the highest 
attainable moral state. Mr. Wesley felt compelled 
to apply it to every justified soul because it is so 
easy to show that Paul so applies it. (See "13 

Scripture, 3-6.") 

He felt compelled to say that every justified 
soul is "purified in heart" because it is so easy to show 
that the hearts of the congregation at the house 
of Cornelius were made pure in the first moment 
of their conversion. (See "Scripture 14.") 

Moral purity is acknowledged on all hands to 
be the highest moral state attainable in this life, 
or any other. When the soul is pure it is of 
course free from all impurity. That which is pure 
can not be the object of a cleansing process. 

He felt compelled to say of every justified per- 
son that "his very body is a temple of the Holy 
Ghost," because it is so easy to show that the 
Scriptures most clearly teach it. (See I. Cor. 3: 
17; Rom. 5:5; Acts 10: 44.) It seems a little 
strange that he omitted the words, "The temple 
of God is holy, which temple ye are," seeing they 
stand in the same verse from which he partially 
quoted, and are more fully descriptive of the 



DOCTRINE OF DOUBLE BIRTH PERFECTION. 305 

• 

moral character of the person he was pretending 
to describe. (See I. Cor. 3 : 17.) Did his mem- 
ory suddenly fail as he approached these words 
so nearly? Or did he not wish us to grasp a full 
description of the character he pretended to de- 
scribe? It certainly seems as though he thought 
a complete scriptural description would more than 
meet his purpose, and show clearly, as it certainly 
does, that every regenerate soul fully comes up to 
the measure of his definition of Christian perfec- 
tion. This would bring to the notice of his most 
obtuse readers the fact that there could not re- 
main in the heart of a justified man the slightest 
susceptibility of such a change as Mr. Wesley rep- 
resents the double birth to be when he says, "The 
Son hath made them free who are thus 'born of 
God' from that great root of sin and bitterness — 
pride" (C. P., page 8), which, according to his 
view, was still remaining in the regenerate heart ; 
or when he says with reference to the same case, 
"So the change wrought when the soul dies to 
sin is of a different kind and infinitely greater 
than any before." (C. P., page 23.) 

But Mr. Wesley entirely overdoes his own pur- 
pose when he says "the justified man keepeth the 
commandments of God." Paul declares the car- 
nal miud can not do this. (Rom. 8 : 7.) If, then, 
as Mr. Wesley teaches, the regenerate heart is 

20 



306 TWENTY-EIGHT OBJECTIONS AGAINST THE 

• 

"full of sin, pride, self will, and hell," "full of the 
carnal mind," it is simply impossible to "keep the 
commandments of God." So then Mr. W esley is 
surely mistaken in one expression or the other. 
But John affirms most positively that "whosoever 
is horn of God doth not commit sin." Then he 
"keepeth the commands of God." So that Mr. 
Wesley is wrong when he says "the regenerate 
eoul is full of the carnal mind." 

As we have noticed, one of God's command- 
ments is, "Be ye holy." Whoever keepeth his 
commands surely keeps this one. And if he 
keeps this command, "Be ye holy," he certainly 
is holy; for being holy is the only possible way of 
obedience in the case. 

4. Thus it becomes indisputable that Mr. Wes- 
ley's testimony is abundant evidence that the soul 
becomes holy in the moment of regeneration. He 

declares, 

(1) "The justified soul is a temple of God," 

which Paul says "is holy." 

(2) "The justified soul is created anew in Christ 
Jesus," which "new creation" is an unlimited one 
in its 'realm, leaving not a vestige of new creation 
to be performed by a "second work." As our text 
says, "all things are become new" in the moral realm 

of the soul. 

(3) "The justified soul is washed; he is sancli- 



DOCTRINE OF DOUBLE-BIRTH PERFECTION. 307 

fed," which indicates the highest moral state at- 
tainable, and is all that we are contending for. 

(4) "The justified man's heart is purified" 
which also indicates the highest moral state, per- 
fectly harmonizes with John when he says, "If 
we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive 
us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteous- 
ness" (I. John 1 : 9), and is just what we are here 
contending for. 

(5) "The justified soul is cleansed from the cor- 
ruption that is in the world" which is precisely 
what Paul means when he says, "He saved us by 
the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the 
Holy Ghost which he shed on ns .abundantly" 
(Titus 3: 5), and is all that we are contending for, 
as it indicates the highest moral state attainable, 
even a sinless state. 

(6) " The justified soul" continues Mr. "Wesley, 
"has the love of God shed abroad in his heart by the 
Holy Ghost, which is given unto him" This is pre- 
cisely in harmony with Paul in his letter to the 
Romans (5: 5), and shows a moral state in perfect 
harmony with God's great fundamental command- 
ment, "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all 
thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy 
mind; and thy neighbor as thyself." It shows a 
moral state in perfect harmony with Mr. Wesley's 
definition of Christian perfection. What else can 



308 TWENTY-EIGHT OBJECTIONS AGAINST THE 

there be in the heart when it is "washed" "sancti- 
fied," "purified," "cleansed from corruption," and 
then filled with "the love of God shed abroad by the 
Holy Ghost given unto it?" Surely "puke love 
reigns alone in" such a heart. Well, this is the 
"all things new" of our text; and this is Mr. 
Wesley's Christian perfection. And as we have 
fully shown from his description of the regener- 
ate soul in his sermon on "Sin in Believers,"- Mr 
Wesley is witness that such is the moral condition 
of every justified soul. Whatever, then, Mr. 
Wesley has said in support, of the idea of sin in 
Christians, he has said in direct contradiction of 
his description of all justified persons, as quoted 
above ; for with our text before him as the foun- 
dation of his most remarkable and thoroughly 
eelf-contradictory discourse, entitled, "On Sin in 
Believers," he, as we have just now seen, complete ■ 

LY SURRENDERS niS DOCTRINE SIX TIMES BY SIX SPE- 
CIFIC affirmations, in one short division of his 
" discourse. (See Wesley's Sermons, Vol. I., page 

109.) 

Thus it is clear, trom our text, and from Mr. 
Wesley's constrained concessions while in the at- 
tempt to explain away its essential meaning, that 
the moral nature of the human soul undergoes 

AN ENTIRE REVOLUTION AND RENEWAL WHILE IN THE 

process of regeneration by the almighty power 



DOCTRINE OF DOUBLE-BIRTH PERFECTION. 309 

of its Holy Father. A contrary asseveration is a 
slander on God and his word. "For in Christ 
Jesus neither circumcision availeth anything ', nor un- 
circumcision, but a new creature" (Gal. 6 : 15.) 

Scripture 12.— Bom. 13 : 8-10. 

"He that loveth another hath fulfilled the law. * * 
Love is the fulfilling of the law" 

1. Here is a firm foundation for the definition 
of Christian perfection. "Pure love reigning 

ALONE IN THE HEART AND LIFE." 

2. God's law certainly is perfect* 

3. It certainly requires perfection of all his 
subjects; otherwise it could not be perfect. "Be 
ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in 
heaven is perfect" (Matt. 5: 48.) 

(1) This can mean nothing beyond the moral 
realm of the soul. 

(2) Does it mean, Be ye imperfect morally ? It 
says perfect. 1 suppose God means what he says. 
We can not make ourselves perfect. But God 
can, if he is perfect ; and I suppose he is. We can 
submit to and trust him to make us perfect. ■ • 

4. God's law peremptorily commands, "Be ye 
holy ; for I am holy ." (I.Peter 1:16; (1) God 
can not associate with an unholy being. There- 
fore those who do not consent to nor embrace the 



310 TWENTY-EIGHT OBJECTIONS AGAINST THE 

holy state can not be his associates— surely not his 
dearly-beloved children. (2) He purifies all who 
penitently embrace him, and makes them bis fit 
associates, temples, children. (3) Those who do 
not embrace him as their holy Father, do by their 
rejection of Him who "stands at the door and 
knocks" for admittance positively and madly vio- 
late this holy command, "Be ye holy." 

5. But our text declares that "love is the ful- 
filling of the law." Hence he who feels the "love 
of God shed abroad in his heart by the power of 
the Holy Ghost dwelling there," as he does in 
every regenerate heart, so that he is able sincerely 
to love his brother, as all Christians do, and even 
his enemy, as we are commanded, may rest as- 
sured that he is in perfect harmony with all God's 
law ; not only the outward part of it, but all, 
even those commands which require holiness, 
purity, perfection, by their specific terms. "He 
that offends in one point is guilty of all" (James 2 : 
* 10), while "he that loveth another," by the aid of 
the Holy Ghost, is in holy harmony with all. He 
"hath fulfilled the law" by coming fully up to the 
holy state which it requires. Now it remains for 
him to continue his trustful hold on that mighty, 
holy hand which hath raised him. So doing he will 
be kept forever. Standing on the Bock, he can 
never fall. Forsaking this by trusting in some- 



DOCTRINE OF DOUBLE-BIRTH PERFECTION. 311 

thing else, he finds the abyss of ruin. "If thou 
forsake him, he will cast thee off forever." (I. Chron. 
28: 9.) 

Scripture 13. — I John 2: 4, 5. 

"He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his 
commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. 
But ivhoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love 
of God perfected : hereby know we that we are in 
him" 

1. How do we know that we are in him? 
From two facts. What are these? (1) We keep 
his commandments. (2) His love is perfected in 
us. These are the unmistakable and invariable 
evidences that we are in him. We love what he 
loves, and do his will, because his love is in our 
hearts. 

2. Here we see that three things are insepara- 
bly connected. If (1) "we are in him," (2) we 
"keep his commandments." (3) "In us verily is 
the love of God perfected." 

Whoever is in Christ, therefore, has become 
(morally) a new creature, by having the love of 
God perfected in him. Paul and John sweetly 
harmonize. 

3. John Wesley says of every justified soul, 
"He keepeth the commandments of God, and 



312 TWENTY-EIGHT OBJECTIONS AGAINST THE 

doeth those things that are pleasing in his sight ; 
* * and he hath power both over outward and 
inward sin, even from the moment he is justified." 
This is in precise harmony with John the apostle 
when he says, "Whosoever is born of God doth 
not commit sin. * * He can not sin, because he is 

born of God." 

It is a matter settled, then, that, as Mr. Wesley 
says, "Even babes in Christ are so far perfect as 
not to commit sin." 

4. This being settled, it follows inevitably that 
every regenerate heart keeps all God's command- 
ments. 

5. This admitted, it follows with equal cer- 
tainty that every such heart has the love of God 
perfected in it, and is consequently perfect ; for 
our text declares it most positively. Let men be 
careful how they deny what God positively af- 
firms. God has no unholy nor imperfect chil- 
dren. 

Scripture IL—Acts 15: 8, 9. 

"And God, which knoweth the hearts, bare them 
witness, giving them the Holy Ghost, even as he did 
unto us; and put no difference between us and them, 
purifying their hearts by faith." 

1. The first question here to be settled relates 



DOCTRINE OF DOUBLE-BIRTH PERFECTION. 313 

to the moral or religious state of those whose 
hearts were purified by the Holy Ghost in response 
to their faith in the atoning merits of Christ, be- 
fore the time here referred to. 

2. Certain it is that they were gentiles. Yet 
their religious views were almost or quite all taken 
from Judaism. Cornelius prayed sincerely to God, 
having renounced his paganism. He worshiped 
God according to the best light he had. But he 
had not embraced Christianity. (1) The gospel 
had not yet been preached to the gentiles as such; 
for, as Dr. Clarke says, "hitherto the apostles con- 
lined their labors among the Jews and circumcised 
proselytes, not making any offer of salvation to the 
gentiles; for they had fully imbibed the opinion 
that none could enter into the kingdom of God 
and be finally saved unless they were circumcised 
and became obedient to the laW*of Moses." 

(2) He was in "good report among all the na- 
tion of the Jews." (Acts 10 : 22.) Hence we know 
he was not a Christian; for Christians were in 
bad report among them, and their Master was re- 
garded by them as a vile impostor. 

(3) "The apostles and brethren that were in 
Judea * .* contended with Peter for having gone 
in to men uncircumcised, and eating with them" 
(Acts 11 : 1-3), after they heard of his preaching 
at Cornelius' house, at which time the events re- 



314 TWENTY-EIGHT OBJECTIONS AGAINST THE 

ferred to in our text occurred. (See • Acts 10 : 

43, 44.) 

(4) All Christians are saved; but an angel di- 
rected Cornelius to "send men to Joppa, and call 
for Simon, whose surname is Peter ; who shall 
tell thee words, whereby thou and all thy house 
shall be saved" (Acts 11 : 13, 14.) 

(5) Thus it is certain that they were strangers 
to the salvation that is in Jesus, and had no fel- 
lowship with Christians. 

3. This great salvation came to their hearts in 
all the fullness of its purifying, sanctifying, and 
renewing power in the first moment of their re- 
ception of the doctrine of salvation by faith in 
Jesus. They had heard of Jesus, but were unde- 
cided both as to his divinity and their privileges 
in him, even if divine, because they were gentiles, 
who, as such, wffre rejected by both Jews and 
Christians. But now, since the vision of an angel 
by Cornelius, and the vision on the house-top by 
• Peter, and the discovery that Cod was in the 
whole matter, opening the gospel door to the gen- 
tiles, Peter is prepared to preach to them with- 
out hesitancy the same doctrine of salvation by 
faith alone in Jesus, which he had embraced. And 
the congregation in the house of Cornelius were 
in like manner prepared to receive every word 
that fell from his lips with as much interest and 



DOCTRINE OF DOUBLE BIRTH PERFECTION. 315 

confidence as if he had been an angel directly 
from heaven. He commenced in good earnest: 
"Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of 
persons: but in every nation he that feareth him, 
and worketh righteousness, is accepted with him. 
* * To him [Jesus] give all the prophets witness, 
that through his name whosoever believeth in him 
shall receive remission of sins. While Peter yet 
spake these words, the Holy Ghost fell on all them 
which heard the word." (Acts 10 : 34, 35, 43, 44.) 

This is the event concerning which Peter utter- 
ed the words of our text, when in council with 
his brethren, about five years later. 

4. It is perfectly obvious that, in complete har- 
mony with Paul's declaration, "By one Spirit are 
we all baptized into one body, whether we be 
Jews or gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and 
have all been made to drink into one Spirit" (I. 
Cor. 12: 13), they were baptized by the Holy 
Ghost into the family of God, the kingdom of 

Christ, MADE PURE FROM ALL UNRIGHTEOUSNESS (see 

our text), and received water baptism afterward 
as a visible emblem and profession of faith in the 
triune God and the invisible spirit-washing which 
he had accomplished by his almighty power. This 
is God's regular order. u Not by works of right- 
eousness which we have done, but according to 
his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regen- 



316 TWENTY-EIGHT OBJECTIONS AGAINST THE 

eeation, and renewing of the Holy Ghost ; which 
he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ 
our Savior; that being justified by his grace, we 
should be made heirs according to the hope of 
eternal life." (Titus 3 : 5-7.) 

5. Thus we clearly see why Mr. Wesley felt 
compelled to attribute purity to the justified soul, 
and made a statement which is utterly irreconcila- 
ble with his doctrine, when he said, "His heart is 
purified by faith; he is cleansed from the corrup- 
tion that is in the world." He well knew that 
. the prestige of ecclesiastical position was mightier 
to convince than reason or argument with the 
many, who at that day allowed the few to do their 
thinking for them. Happily that state of things 
is now fast passing away. Mr. Wesley's course 
in regard to the sentiment of our text is as if he 
should say, "Yes, purity is purity; but yet it is 
not purity." A professed philosopher could with 
as much propriety say to his pupils, "The light 
of the sun is pure light ; but still it is not pure 
light; for you must remember that I, as your 
learned preceptor, positively declare, upon the au- 
thority and wisdom in me vested, that there is 
innate dismal darkness intrinsically incorporated 
with every ray that streams from the burning 
furnaces of our resplendent luminary." The gap- 
ing, credulous urchins would receive the scholas- 



DOCTRINE OF DOUBLE-BIRTH PERFECTION. 817 

tic statement as the ebullition of vast learning 
and research in the paradoxes of nature and sci- 
ence, commit the words to memory, if they could, 
and go out, parrot-like, to show their learning 
among their inferiors. 

In one short division of his sermon Mr. "Wes- 
ley tells us that the regenerate "heart is purified by 
faith; he is cleansed from corruption; the love of 
God is shed abroad in his heart by the Holy Ghost, 
which is given unto him" And in the very next 
division, on the same page, he says of the same 
character, "But was he not then freed from all 
sin, so that there is no sin in his heart? I can 
not say this; I can not believe it, because St. Paul 
says the contrary. He is speaking to believers, 
and describing the state of believers in general 
when he says, 'The flesh lusteth against the Spir- 
it, aud the Spirit against the flesh : and these are 
contrary the one to the other.'" (Gal. 5 : 17.) If 
Mr. Wesley had quoted to the end of the sentence 
he would have had too strong a case to suit his 
purpose. He would have had a picture that does 
not correspond with the Christian character. Let 
us read for ourselves : "So that ye can not do the 
things that ye would." They were slaves to sin. 
If Mr. Wesley had carefully read the entire epis- 
tle he would have learned that many of those 
Galatians were "foolish" "bewitched" and "fallen 



318 TWENTY-EIGHT OBJECTIONS AGAINST THE 

from grace" (See 5: 4.) (See examination of 
this text under "14 Scripture/' in "OBJECTION 

24.") 

Dr. Clarke could easily find evidences in the 
epistle of the backslidden condition of many of 
them. But he was not struggling to support an 
unscriptural doctrine. On 5: 4 — "Ye are fallen 
from grace" — he says, "They had, therefore, in 
every sense of the word, fallen from grace; and 
whether some of them ever rose again is more 
than we can tell." 

6. I think it is safe to conclude that Peter, the 
apostle to whom God intrusted the duty of preach- 
ing the first gospel sermon to the gentiles, under- 
stood the case he was speaking of, and that he 
meant what he said, when he uttered the words of 
our text in a theological discussion. He says 
their hearts were "purified" This ought to settle 
the question forever. 

Scripture 15. — I. John 2: 10. 

"He that loveth his brother abideth in the light, and 
there is none occasion of stumbling in him" 

1. "Carnality," "hidden abominations, the 
depth of pride, self-will, and hell," which the 
double-birth doctrine affirms is in the regenerate 
soul, certainly would be an "occasion of stum- 
bling." It would certainly cause stumbling. 



DOCTRINE OF DOUBLE-BIRTH PERFECTION. 319 

2. But our text says "tliere is none occasion of 
stumbling in him who abideth in the light." And 
who is this? It is 

3. "He that loveth his brother [that] abideth 
in the light." And who is it that loves his 
brother? 

4 "Every one that loveth him that begat, lov- 
eth him also that is begotten of him." (I. John 
5: 1.) 

5. Surely, that is every regenerate soul. Ev- 
ery child of God loves his divine Father. And 
every one that loves God loves also every one that 
is begotten of God. That is his brother. 

6. Thus it is obvious that every regenerate 
soul loves every other, walks in the light, and has 
"no occasion of stumbling in him." Therefore he 
has no sin in him. There is nothing in him that 
tends ruinward. Notice carefully, "he abides in the 
light;" and the same author says, chapter 1: 7, 
"If we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we 
have fellowship one with another, and the blood 
of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin" 
This makes the case very clear. All Christians 
love one another, walk and abide in the light, are 
cleansed from all sin, — "all unrighteousness" (ninth 
verse) — and consequently have "in them none oc- 
casion of stumbling" The world and Satan may 
deceive, however, and so lead them into captivity. 



320 TWENTY-EIGHT OBJECTIONS AGAINST THE 

Satan can only lead the soul away by deception of 
some kind and degree. And he often does it. 
But not by means of sin in them already ; for then 
he would be more interested to let them alone and 
keep them quiet and unalarmed. So multitudes 
are slumbering quietly in "forms of godliness," 
but destitute of the godliness and the power, and 
in many instances denying its existence. 

Scripture 16.— J. Cor. 3: 16,17. 

" Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and 
that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you f If any man 
defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for 
the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are." 

Here it is clearly taught, that 

1. God dwells in the hearts of his children as 
a king dwells in his temple. "The kingdom of 
God kwithin you." "Christ liveth in me." "Abide 
in me and I in you." "I will dwell in them and 

' walk in them." 

2. That "the temple of God is holy ;" that is 
to say, he dwells not in a polluted, defiled temple. 

3. That those Corinthians were many of them 
—probably a large majority, with but a few ex- 
ceptional cases,— holy. " The temple of God is holy, 
which temple ye are." This is precisely equivalent 
to savins, "Ye are holy." Yet our double-birth 



DOCTRINE OF DOUBLE-BIRTH PERFECTION. 321 

theologians all agree in saying the Corinthians 
had never obtained the "second change" — the "in- 
stantaneous deliverance after justification." (Wes- 
ley and Wood.) 

Paul declares they were "holy, washed, sanctified" 
(See text, and 6: 11.) 

I suppose his testimony in the case is good and 
reliable. He doubtless understood what he was 
saying fully as well as the divines who set aside his 
positive declarations to get rid of his testimony 
against a doctrine for which they have not a syl- 
lable of direct support. They never claim any of 
this kind. All they claim on their main point is 
simply second-rate indirect inference. Every man 
in Christendom has the means of knowing that the 
second-work doctrine has not a syllable of direct, 
support in God's word. It has not a syllable of 
support there, either direct or indirect. But what 
we should remember is this, that none of the pas- 
sages claimed as evidence, are claimed to teach it 
directly. All that they claim for their doctrine in 
the Scriptures is- that certain passages seem to as- 
sume it as if it were clearly taught by some other 
passage in some other place. But that other pas- 
sage in that other place, clearly and directly teach- 
ing it, we never can induce them to bring forward. 
It is always like the lawyer's absent witness. He 
was dead, and therefore absent. • 

21 



322 TWENTY-EIGHT OBJECTIONS AGAINST THE 

Scripture 17.— Lukell: 26, 33. 

"If any man come to me, and hate not his father, 
and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, 
and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he can not be 
my disciple. * * * Whosoever he be of you that 
forsaketh not all that he hath, he can not be my dis- 
ciple." 

The second statement is simply a restatement 
of the idea to be conveyed. 

To "hate" here means to regard with much less 

esteem. 

Consecration is the matter under consideration. 

1. We all agree that every justified soul is a 

disciple of Christ. 

• 2. We all agree that entire consecration must 

precede sanctification or holiness, as a condition 

of its attainment. 

3. We all agree that entire consecration will 
- surely bring full salvation or holiness. Conse- 
cration is not holiness ; but it is the act of the 
creature on account of which o*r "because" of 
which God accepts the soul into his favor, and 
.imparts to it his full salvation. [The word 
' « full " is here added in accommodation to my 
opponents. I know of no partial, moral sal- 
vation.] Consecration is the act of "trust." It 
involves the two mental acts or states-confidence 



DOCTRINE OF DOUBLE-BIRTH PERFECTION. 323 

and submission. These two acts constitute trust 
or consecration. "Our heart shall rejoice in him, 
because we have trusted in his holy name." (Psalms 
33: 22.) "He shall deliver them from the wicked, 
and save them, because they trust in him" (Psalms 
37 : 40.) "Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, 
whose mind is stayed on thee : because lie trusteth in 
thee" (Isa. 26 : 3.) Trust is the "because" of salva- 
tion in every instance. "Abraham believed God, 
and it was counted unto him for righteousness. * * 
Faith was reckoned to Abraham for righteousness. 
* * Now it was not written for his sake alone* 
tha.t it was imputed to him; but for us also, to 
whom it shall be imputed, if we believe on him 
that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead ; who 
was delivered for our offenses, and was raised again 
for our justification. " (Rom. 4: 3, 9; 23-25.) 

"Faith without works is dead. Was not Abra- 
ham our father justified by works, when he had 
offered Isaac his son upon the altar? Seest thou 
how faith wrought with his works, and bv works 
was faith made perfect?" (James 2: 20-22.) It 
was all an intellectual and heart-work. James 
does not refer to mechanical action, but to trust- 
ful action of the will, the soul. Every one knows 
that Abraham did not, as a matter of fact, me- 
chanically offer his son Isaac as a slain, burnt-sac- 
ritiee. He resolved to do it. And his resolution 



324 TWENTY-EIGHT OBJECTIONS AGAINST THE 

was just as any resolution is, so firm or decided, 
that lie mechanically took all the preparatory 
steps to actually make the offering. The whole 
mental and moral processes of the mind and heart 
were the same as if he had offered his dear son. 
This soul-action is what James calls ''works:' 

Consecration is this unreserved, confiding soul- 
action, placing itself and all its possessions, 
hopes and prospects, at the feet of Jesus, there to 
await his sovereign will and pleasure. Such is the 
teaching of Jesus, the blessed and lovely One, in 
our text. The soul commands the body, and 
therefore our mechanical action will harmonize 
with the purposes of the soul to the extent of our 
powers. Hence we are generally safe in judging 
of a tree by its fruits ; but the fruit is not the tree. 
Men have no other way of judging; but "God 
looketh at the heart." Abraham's heart-action was 
right; therefore God accepted it. When the 
heart-action is right, the mechanical action will 
* harmonize to the extent of ability ; and this is ac- 
ceptable with God, if the ability be no more than 
the widow's mite. But there may be very fine 
mechanical action to the extent of millions of gold, 
or pompous religious forms and ceremonies, while 
all is abominated before God, because the heart 
does not harmonize. Hence there may be eases in 
which, for a time at least, man may misjudge the 



DOCTRINE OF DOUBLE-BIRTH PERFECTION. 325 

tree by its fruits. When the action is right within 
it will be right outside, and right with God. Now 
we are prepared to consider, that 

4. Our text differs diametrically with all who 
say that the soul never makes an entire consecra- 
tion till after conversion. 

In answering the question, "Can a soul obtain 
the pardon of its sins without a full and complete 
surrender to God?" Bishop Castle said, "If by 
the word 'surrender' is meant consecration to God, 
then I answer, Yes; for consecration proper be- 
longs to a later and more enlightened stage of 
£ra.ce." (Ans. 1.) 

Bishop Castle is a very fine representative of 
the class of theologians here controverted; and he 
has here very definitely represented their position 
on consecration. As we have seen in a chapter 
on "contradictions," they frequently contradict 
one another and themselves; yet the bishop here 
gives us a definite expression of the general tenor 
of their teaching. They almost universally leave 
the impression that the sinner may obtain pardon 
on condition of a reserved, a limited consecration. 
They all talk about having enjoyed the graces of 
justification and regeneration for a length of time 
without having all on the altar of consecration, 
and then obtaining (as some have worded it) "the 
blessing of sanctification by placing all on the al- 



326 TWENTY-EIGHT OBJECTIONS AGAINST THE 

tar"— (H) by "trusting all in the hands of the 
Lord"— A. Wood— "then 1 believed fully"— D— 
"by giving up ray cattle, my horses, my sheep, my 

farm and all." — P. 

(1) To all these Jesus says, "Whosoever he be 
of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he can 
not be my disciple." There is no disciple of 
Christ who has not committed all into his hands. 
This may be done without contemplating all the 
items separately and distinctly. But no man ever 
obtained pardon while in the mental attitude of 
holding something in reserve from God as sover- 
eign proprietor and disposer of all. The reserve 
of one solitary smallest item will bar the soul from 
the kingdom of God. He is the only Sovereign 
in existence. Man is a pensioner on his bounty. 
A solitary reserve is assuming the attitude of in- 
dependence and self-control. It is setting up the 
whole, indivisible will of a pigmy creature against 
the whole, indivisible will of his independent, 
'most lovely sovereign Lord. It is assuming su- 
periority to God. It is equivalent to saying, ei- 
ther, "I know best what to do with the item,— that 
is, what ought to be done with it,"— or, "I am able 
to make and carry out my own arrangement, 
whether it suits God or not." Either of these at- 
titudes of soul is a false one. They are rebellion. 
God can not extend amnesty to a soul in the atti- 



DOCTRINE OF DOUBLE-BIRTH PERFECTION. 327 

tude of rebellion. Surrender must precede par- 
don — COMPLETE, UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER. 

(2) When the soul makes no reserve of an 
item in its surrender to God, then it is in the at- 
titude of complete consecration, whether it at the 
moment contemplates all the items which are 
comprised in the whole or not. To say that it 
must first contemplate every item before the con- 
secration can be complete, is to set up a rule 
which would keep the soul in perpetual doubt in 
many if not all cases. There would be a perplex- 
ity and doubt as to whether the last item had been 
considered. The itemizing process is a very 
healthy and commendable one. But if the soul 
were burdened with a rule requiring a perfectly 
itemized consecration prior to sanctification, it 
would be kept in the fear that something had been 
overlooked. But it requires very little intellectual 
exertion to say, "Here, Lord, I give myself away, 
to be forever thine, with all i am, with all I 
claim, with all that I can do for thee, and with 
all I hope to be or claim or do. All is thine for 
evermore." When the heart says this, God will 
instantaneously fill it with his presence and love 
and holiness. "Every one that asketh receiveth." 
(Matt. 7: 8.) Whenever the soul reaches after 
God he comes. 

5. With our text before him, let no man call 



328 TWENTY-EIGHT OBJECTIONS AGAINST THE 

himself a disciple unless his soul is now in the at- 
titude of unreserved consecration to God. The 
least reserve makes present condemnation certain, 
whether it be felt or not. God does not at every 
moment smite the guilty sDul with a feeling of 
remorse. Now is not the time, and this world is 
uot the place for the punishment of the guilty. 
Yet the soul that is -not in the attitude of unre- 
served consecration can not have the conscious 
wituessings and fruits of the Spirit in his heart. 
He is not a disciple of Jesus. Our text condemns 
him, however much he may deceive himself with 
his own flatteries, saying, "Peace, peace." "There 
is no peace, saith my God to the wicked." All diso- 
bedience is wickedness. God commands full, un- 
reserved consecration. The attitude of reserve for 
wealth, or honor, or pleasure, is rebellion. "He 
that for saketh not all that he hath, can not be my dis- 
ciple" "Whether therefore ye eat or drink, or 
whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God" (I. 
^Cor. 10: 31.) This is the sacred comment on our 
text. Take God in as a partner of your firm,— a ^ 
ruling partner, — to be honored in everything. 
God made this universe to be honored by it. And 
it will be so. Those who will not honor him with 
their love and praise, will honor him with their 
wailings over the lost privilege of enjoying his 
love and association. He never will honor a soul 



DOCTRINE OF DOUBLE-BIRTH PERFECTION. 329 

with either till it first honors him with the conse- 
cration of its entire being and interests, to be for- 
ever tributary to his glory. Then will he honor 
it as a beggar would be honored by a home in a 
king's palace. 

Scripture 18. — Eph. 1: 7. 

"In whom we have redemption through his blood, 
the forgiveness of sins " 

1. The abstract idea of forgiveness does not 
comprise all of redemption, though it is a part of 
redemption. We can cogitate a complete idea of 
forgiveness apart from the whole of redemption. 

2. Redemption in its most extensive sense in- 
cludes the resurrection of the body and its reun- 
ion with the soul in all the vigor, symmetry, beau- 
ty, and loveliness of primeval man immortalized. 
"Waiting for the adoption, to-wit, the redemption 
of our body." (Rom. 8: 23.) 

3. Moral redemption, as enjoyed in this life, 
includes pardon and purity. No one enjoys moral 
redemption until he is holy. 

(1) In that sublime piece of composition, the 
thirty -fifth chapter of Isaiah, we find a fine de- 
scription of the redeemed soul. lie says: 

"A highway shall be there, and a way, and it 
shall be called The way of holiness; the unclean 
shall not pass over it; but it shall be for those: 



330 TWENTY-EIGHT OBJECTIONS AGAINST THE 

« 

the wayfaring men, though fools, shall not err 
therein. No lion shall be there, nor any ravenous 
beast shall go up thereon, it shall not be found 
there; but the redeemed shall walk there." (Isa. 

35: 8, 9.) 

a. No lion-like character shall be there. No 
ravenous, beastly man shall go up thereon. 

b. "The unclean shall not pass over it.'' None 
but the holy, the pure, ever travel that road, the 
highway of the redeemed, the only way to heaven. 

Well, who travels on it? 

e.' " The redeemed shall walk there." 

d. "The redeemed, but not the unclean." This 

is clear. The second-work theologians all tell us 

that every regenerate soul is on his way to heaven. 

Are there two ways, one for the pure and another 

for the half-pure? If any one knows that there 

are two ways, an upper and a lower, pray tell ua 

how he found them out. Where is the chart? 

How, or of whom can we learn it? Truly, Jesus 

tells us of two ways, a broad one and a narrow 

one. But they do not both lead to the same place. 

One leads to destruction. That is not heaven, 

surely. Where is the evidence of the existence of 

two ways leading to heaven? There is none. No 

man ever started for heaven till his heart was 

made pure. "The unclean shall not pass over it. 

But the redeemed shall ivalk there" 



DOCTRINE OF DOUBLE-BIRTH PERFECTION. 331 

e. The doctrine that lions, tigers, ravenous 
beasts and unclean beasts are on the way toward 
heaven and eternal glory, is doubtless sending more 
souls to ruin than a large majority of all the other 
causes. Satan can ruin souls only by deception; 

NEVER BY MECHANICAL FORCE. HENCE HE IS MORE 
INTERESTED IN ERRONEOUS DOCTRINES PROCLAIMED 
FROM THE PULPIT AND THE CATECHISM THAN IN ALL 
OTHER MEANS OF DESTRUCTION. 

4. Our text clearly shows that forgiveness of 
sins and redemption always go hand in hand. As 
we have before noticed, forgiveness without pu- 
rity would be utterly useless to the soul, in view 
of the fact that a corrupt heart can no more retain 
its innocence for a solitary moment than a corrupt 
tree can bring forth good fruit, or a bitter fount- 
ain send forth sweet waters, or a thistle bear figs, 
or a thorn grapes. Paul, like all the other in- 
spired writers, fully recognized this fact announced 
by the Redeemer and by the Holy Ghost. Indeed, 
so fixed and thoroughly understood is this fact 
with the sacred writers that they often use the 
terms "forgiveness" and "justification," as if they 
were synonyms of "redemption." Our text is an 
instance of this kind. In his letter to the Colos- 
sians, the apostle uses this expression, "In whom 
we have redemption, * * * even the forgive- 
ness of sins." (Col. 1 : 14.) This looks much as 



332 TWENTY r -EIGHT OBJECTIONS AGAINST THE 

if Paul regarded the two words — "redemption" 
and "forgiveness" — as if they were synonyms; yet 
every one knows they are not. Neither are the 
words "justification" and "regeneration" synonyms; 
yet the double-birth writers are disgracefully care- 
less in their interchangeable use of them, as if they 
were synonyms of each other. Their conduct in 
this particular has wofully befogged their read- 
ers. There is precisely the same propriety in 
using "justification" as a synonym of "sanctifica- 
tion" "purification" "baptism of the Holy Ghost" 
and "redemption" as there is in using it as a syn- 
onym of regeneration; for the acts are all done by 
the same divine agent at the same moment. 

Scripture 19. — I. Cor. 13 : 1-3, 13. 

"Though I speak with the tongues of men and of an- 
gels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding 
brass, or a tinkling cymbal And though I have the gift 
of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowl- 
v edge; and though 1 have all faith, so that I could remove 
mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing. * * 
And now abideth faith, hope, charity, ttoese three ; but 
the greatest of these is charity" 

1. The Greek word agape, which is here ren- 
dered charity ', bears., precisely the same meaning as 
the English word love. 

2. Love is here spoken of as the greatest of all 



DOCTRINE OF DOUBLE-BIRTH PERFECTION. 333 

graces. If we could have all other graces, they 
would amount to nothing without this one. 

(1) "The end of the commandment is charity ;" 
that is, love. (I. Tim. 1:5.) 

(2) "He that loveth another hath fulfilled the 
law." (Rom. 13: 8 ) 

(3) "Loveworketh no ill to his neighbor; there- 
fore love is the fulfilling of the law." (Rom. 13: 10.) 

(4.) u Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the 
Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy 
soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and 
great commandment. And the second is like unto 
it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. On 
these two commandments hang all the law and the 
prophets." (Matt. 22: 37-40. 

(5) "Above all these things put on charity 
[7o7;e], which is the bond of perfectness." (Col. 3 : 14.) 

(6) From the chapter of our text, — which is 
probably the most important chapter in the New 
Testament, — and from the two verses next pre- 
ceding our last quotation, we learn that charity or 
love is the most important of all the graces; that 
indeed it is superior to them all, and to all other 
endowments bestowed by the Holy Spirit, and for 
the following reasons : 

[1] No other grace imaginable without love 
can ever fit the soul for association with God and 
the holy angels. But love fits it for the highest 



334 TWENTY-EIGHT OBJECTIONS AGAINST THE 

society in the universe of God. It fits it for fel- 
lowship with God himself. Indeed, the soul is 
never filled with love till it is filled with the divine 
presence dwelling in the very center and essence 
and nature of its being and substance in the most 
intimate association imaginable. " Abide in me and 
I in you." "I will come in to him, and sup with 
him, and he with me" (Jesus.) 

[2.] No other grace but love excludes from the 
heart that undue amount of self-interest which 
would produce disorder by arraying the soul's 
powers in some sense and in some degree against 
the interests, and so against the happiness of oth- 
ers. But "love worketh no ill to his neighbor;" 
hence it brings the soul into harmony with the 
great end sought to be secured by the great, good 
heart of God in the enactment of law. 

[3] No gift, grace ; or endowment but love can 
ever be a sufficient warranty of eternal order. 
Love is the only warranty of order on earth or 
in heaven. It worketh no ill. It will never dis- 
turb the peace or the interests of others. Hence 
it is the only passport to the kingdom of eternal 

peace. 

[4] When the graces of patience, forbearance, 
meekness, mercy, shall be unnecessary, because 
trials, temptations, and provocations will be no 
more; when prophecies are no more needed; when 



DOCTRINE OF DOUBLE-BIRTH PERFECTION. 335 

scientific knowledge and the arts are no more 
needed ; when the knowledge or the miraculous 
gift of tongues shall be useless, love will still be 
as necessary as an element of bliss and a warranty 
of order as it ever was on earth. No rolling cycles 
of ages will ever usher in a period when it will 
not be an absolute necessity in each inhabitant of 
heaven as a warranty of order and a qualification 
for bliss as is the existence and moral beauty of 
God. 

[5] Faith and hope will forever have a place to 
fill in the bosom of the redeemed; for the soul 
will ever look on God and on the perpetual future 
with faith and hope. Yet these, in the bosom of 
each, relate to his own composure and comfort 
more than to others; while love in each one 
makes him a reliable member of society, a trust- 
worthy associate, an object of sweet affection, and 
a means of social bliss to every other member in 
the community on earth or in heaven. Therefore 
love is superior to faith and hope 

[6] Faith is the means or condition of salva- 
tion. Love is the state of salvation— salvation 
itself. Faith takes hold on God. Love is the 
likeness of God, the image of God, the moral 
beauty of God. 



336 TWENTY-EIGHT OBJECTIONS AGAINST THE 

"Love sits in his eyelids, 
And scatters delight 

Through all the bright mansions on high ; 
Their faces, the cherubim, vail in his sight, 
And tremble with fullness of joy." 

"GOD IS LOVE." 

[7] All the external acts of beneficence that 
any one can perform, even to the extent of all his 
possessions and his life at the stake, amount to 
nothing in the way of salvation or of moral excel- 
lency, if the heart be not filled with love. Love 
will invariably produce good fruits; but good 
fruits will never produce love in the heart of the 
performer. 

[8] "Love is the bond of perfectness.™ Love is 
moral perfection, because it is the bond of union, 
order, harmony, and bliss in perfect society. 
Heaven has none but perfect society. Love is the 
bond which holds together in blissful order and 
harmony all the redeemed and the angelic hosts, 
in one sweet, grand, glorious bundle of perfectness, 
and holds it in union and harmony with God, the 
glorious center around whom all the shining mul- 
titude in blissful harmony spontaneously crystal- 
lize. Love is the everlasting golden chain of grav- 
itation which sweetly, firmly binds the shining- 
orbs of God's moral universe to their ineffable 
Center. "Pure l6ve reigning alone in the heart, 
is the whole of Christian perfection." (Wesley.) 



DOCTRINE OF DOUBLE BIRTH PERFECTION. 337 

3. Without this pure love reigning alone in 
our hearts, we are absolutely nothing in point of 
salvation or moral excellency. Such is the indis- 
putable teaching of our text. "Though I speak 
with the tongues of men and of angels, * * 
and have the gift of prophecy, and understand all 
mysteries, and all knowledge, * * and have all 
faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have 
not love, I am nothing." [Absolutely nothing in 
religion.] "And though I bestow all my goods to 
feed the poor, and though I give my body to be 
burned, and have not love, it profiteth me nothing." 

Scripture 20.— Matt. 7: 18. 
"Neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit" 

1. Mr. Wesley, speaking of the "merely justi- 
fied" soul, says, "He keepeth the commandments 
of God, and doeth those things that are pleasing 
in his sight, so exercising himself as to have a 
conscience void of offense toward God and toward 
man ; and k he has power both over outward and 
inward sin, even from the moment he is justified." 
(Sermons, Vol. I., page 109.) 

2. Here is a plain case of a tree bringing forth 

good fruit. It is certainly good fruit to keep 
God's commands, and do the things that please 
him, and keeping a good conscience toward God 

22 



338 TWENTY-EIGHT OBJECTIONS AGAINST THE 

and man. There is not a Christian nor Bible- 
student in Christendom that would call such con- 
duct bad fruit. They would all with one voice 
pronounce it good, thoroughly good, only good. 
3. Now, one of two things is certain : Either 
Jesus was mistaken when he uttered our text, or 
Mr. Wesley was mistaken when he said, "If there 
be no such second work, if there be no instan- 
taneous deliverance after justification, we must 
remain full of sin till death ;" and all are mis- 
taken when they say the heart of the regenerate 
soul is the abode of moral corruption. Who is 
correct? Jesus or these second-work theologians? 
Sure as Jesus is "the faithful and true witness, in 
whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and 
knowledge," so sure the double-birth doctrine is 
based on a myth; for it has no foundation in 
God's word, and is utterly inconsistent with the 

TWENTY SCRIPTURES WHICH WE HAVE NOW SEEN ARE 
% ' DIRECTLY AGAINST IT. 

"A corrupt tree can not bring forth good fruit." 
The regenerate soul brings forth good fruit. There- 
fore it is not corrupt. If he is not corrupt, he is 
pure. "He keepeth God's commands, and doeth the 
things that please him," says Mr. Wesley. And 
John says, "He can not sin, because he is born 
of God." A bad heart certainly can sin, without 



DOCTRINE OF DOUBLE-BIRTH PERFECTION. 339 

any change of moral nature; but a regenerate 
soul can not sin without a change of moral na- 
ture. He is pure. But let him watch and pray, 
or he will fall. 

OBJECTION 26. 

ITS VOTARIES HURTFULLY IGNORE THE SOUL'S LIABIL- 
ITY TO BACKSLIDE, AND THE NATURE AND IMPER- 
CEPTIBILITY OF THE BACKSLIDING PROCESS. 

1. All Calvinists believe that "Christians do 
not fall away from grace." (See Dr. Barnes on 
Matt. 7 : 23.) 

2. A kind of charitable compromise with Cal- 
vinist Christians, mixed with a culpable inatten- 
tion to the Scriptures on the point, together with 
some other . influences, has led many Arminians 
into the mistaken notion that backsliding is an 
exceedingly rare thing. 

3. It is always mortifying to acknowledge that 
we have done wrong, and are therefore guilty. 
The hardest thing for the soul to do is to plead 
guilty without an excuse. Backsliding is always 
a concomitant of guilt. Therefore it is very hard 
to acknowledge a backslidden state. 

4. In consequence of these facts it is a deli- 
cate matter for a pastor to accuse any of his flock 
of being in a backslidden state. (1) It is equiva- 



340 TWENTY-EIGHT OBJECTIONS AGAINST THE 

lent to an accusation of rebellion against God. 
(2) It is easier to throw the blame on the devil, 
or on human depravity, or on the defectiveness 
of regeneration; that is, the imperfection of the 
plan and work of redemption. (3) It is. easiest of 
all to attribute moral deflections to the assumed 
fact that there are two grades of children in God's 
family,— the perfect and the imperfect, the whole 
and the sickly, the symmetrical and the decrepit, 
deformed and monstrous, the pure and the pollut- 
ed, the good and the bad, the holy and the sinful, 
those in whom God reigns alone and those in 
whom God and Satan hold the kingdom in part- 
nership. (4) It seems to be much more accepta- 
ble with the backslidden heart to tell him he is all 
right as far as he has gone, but that he has not 
yet gone up to the extent of his privilege, than it 
is to tell him he is backslidden and needs to "re- 
pent and do the first works:' He would rather be 
told that his "roll" is not lost, only it is an insuffi- 
* cientone,and must be superseded by a much larger 
and far more authoritative document, which he 
may find by traveling right on in his present 
course, without turning to the spot where he may 
imagine he lost his first one. He does not like to 

be sent back. 

(5) Cowardly and deluded preachers, in conse- 
quence of these facts, tell the backslidden, sleepy 



DOCTRINE OF LOUBLE-BIRTH PERFECTION. 341 

souls, a Your roll is not lost; it is all safe among 
your papers. It will answer your purpose for 
traveling very well. You will need a finer docu- 
ment before you enter the pearly gate; but you 
will get that somehow just at the right time. Give 
yourself no uneasiness about the matter. Only 
go on, and walk as near the middle of the road as 
you can — poor, depraved, polluted creatures that 
we all are. God does not expect us to walk 
straight. God alone is perfect. When he says, 
'Be ye perfect, even as your Father which is in 
heaven is perfect,' he is considerably sincere in 
what he says. But he very well knows there is 
no manner of use in expecting such a thing of 
creatures so fallen as we are. He only expects us 
to try our very best most of the time, all of the 
time, — all the time, indeed, — except when we for- 
get by reason of the intensity of our affection and 
attention on our wordly affairs, which are so very 
important that we must attend to them faithfully, 
and therefore can not actually 'pray without ceas- 
ing.' He only expects us to pray habitually, and 
refrain from being habitual sinners. But we are 
all sinners all the time, only we must not be habit- 
ual sinners. There is a vast difference, you see, 
between a reluctant sinner and a habitual sinner, 
even though the reluctant sinner, like the other 
man, sins all the time." 



342 TWENTY-EIGHT OBJECTIONS AGAINST THE 

(6) "Then, you see, if one should profess to be 
free from sin and have a pure heart, and theu aft- 
erward fall into temptation and sin, why then it 
would show that he was not one of the elect— for 
the elect never 'fall away from grace;' and thus 
his case would stand against the old, cherished 
doctrine of our church and of our venerable saint- 
ed fathers; and this would be too bad for a mo- 
ment's toleration. They could not be mistaken- 
great, wise, learned men as they were, pure-heart- 
ed and holy. How dare we set our opinions against 
theirs?" So say the followers of one class of the 
sainted fathers, while another class have also 
their parasites, who follow their leaders and sup- 
porters a long way in the path just now marked 
out. They say we can be Christians on the 
way to heaven with hearts full of "the hidden 
abominations, the depths of pride, self-will, and 
hell, yet having the witness, 'Thou art a child of 
God.' " u Full of sin till death." "Then God 
- will cut short the usual work of many years in a 
moment." Then he will, according to these, give 
the soul an unconditional cleansing, and take it 

home to glory. 

The idea of accounting for moral deflections on 
the ground of backslidings seems not to enter 
their mind. As we have repeatedly noticed 
in the preceding .pages, Wesley, Upham, Wood, 



DOCTRINE OF DOUBLE-BIRTH PERFECTION. 343 

Castle, and others talk of Christians being "sinful 
in thought, word, and deed," indulging "pride, 
lasciviousness, bombast, envy, strife," "being "full 
of sin till death," "seeing in themselves the hid- 
den abominations, pride, self-will, and hell," 
"plunged into the most excessive gloom," "the 
. motions of sin in the heart," "crucified sin in 
them struggling to break from the cross," "the 
form of that old life incumbering and enslaving" 
the regenerate soul, as if these deflections were 
not the fruits of backslidden hearts, but simply 
the fruits and evidences of a half salvation. They 
would have us tell the church-sinner he is all right 
as far as he has gone,— on his way to heaven, only 
keep on,— instead of telling him he is backslid- 
den. 
These facts make it necessary to say a few 

words on the subject of 

BACKSLIDING. 

I. The possibility of backsliding. 

1. Facts. This whole question may be easily 
and quickly settled bya candid view of facts. 
Facts supersede all necessity of lengthy reason- 
ing on possibilities and probabilities. Facts are 
stubborn things ; and in this case we have abun- 
dant testimony of this most stubborn kind. 

(1) Fallen angels. 



344 TWENTY-EIGHT OBJECTIONS AGAINST THE 

"And he [Jesus] said unto them,' I beheld Satan 
as lightning fall from heaven." (Luke 10: 18.) 

(1) Here we learn from the immortal Teacher 
that Satan, the old "Diabolos," the "prince of 
darkness," was once a shining inhabitant of heav- 
en. There he may have abode in blissful splendor 
and holy innocence for many long and joyful ages, 
basking in the sunlight of the Holy One's ineffa- 
ble countenance, drinking of the rivers of his 
pleasures, and siuging sweetest songs of praise. 

(2) But by some mistake, or abuse of freedom, 
he blundered, fell, and was cast out of the glori- 
ous home of God and his pure and peaceful chil- 
dren. 

(3) He went out like lightning,— visibly, sud- 
denly, involuntarily, irresistibly, irretrievably. 

(4) He fell from a very high position. 

"And the angels which kept not their first estate, but 
left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting 
chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day." 

(Jude 6.) 

"Then shall he say also unto them on the left 
hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting 
fire, prepared for the devil % [not for man] and his 
angels: 7 Matt. 25:41.) 

Thus it is clear, 

(1) That there are many fallen angels or devils. 
There is "Beelzebub, the prince of the devils;" and 



DOCTRINE OF DOUBLE-BIRTH PERFECTION. 345 

there are many others of the same origin, charac- 
ter, and condition, though less powerful and in- 
telligent. 

(2) They ''left their own estate and habitation" 
intruding- on forbidden realms in discontent or 
curiosity. 

(3) They, with us, will appear at the "judg- 
ment of the great day." 

(4) All the ends they will subserve in the di- 
vine government by their appearance in the count- 
less throng on that solemn occasion can only be a 
matter of conjecture and metaphysical specula- 
tion with us. They will doubtless serve as an ex- 
ample and warning to the redeemed, so that none 
of these will ever feel tempted to leave their es- 
tate and habitation on conjectural exploration ex- 
peditions without full permission, ample instruc- 
tions, and specific directions before they sail on 
voyages of discovery or project from the blissful 
mansions assigned them. 

(2) Fallen men — Adam. 

(1) If angels fell from their high and holy 
moral position and inheritance, surely an inferior 
order of beings like men may fall. When we ex- 
amine the Bible testimony on this point we find 
ample evidence in the form of stubborn fact to 
support the proposition that many men have fall- 
en from grace. 



346 TWENTY-EIGHT OBJECTIONS AGAINST THE 

"By one man [Adam] sin entered into the world, 
and death by sin." (Rom. 5 : 12.) 

"So he drove out the man" (Gen. 3: 24.) 
Thus we see that, 

(1) As pure a man as ever lived on the planet 
did sin. Adam surely was pure when he came 
from the hand of his Creator. It is often said of 
backsliders, "They never were converted. If 
they had been born of God they would not have 
fallen." The impure surely can not fall from 
purity any more than he can fall from a tree-top 
who never was on one. But Adam was once 
pure and holy. Yet we have no evidence that he 
is saved. Certain it is that he sinned. 

(2) It is also certain that he was driven from 
a position that he once occupied, a garden he once 
inhabited, the divine approbation which • once 
smiled upon him, and bliss which he once enjoy- 
ed." 

(3) It is equally certain that the earth was 
cursed with multitudes of unpleasant things in 
consequence of Adam's sin. A fallen, depraved 
progeny are inhabiting a world infested with 
thistles, thorns, reptiles, poisonous serpents, sting- 
ing insects, ravenous beasts, malarial swamps, des- 
iccating winds, choking simooms, desolating tor- 
nadoes and cyclones, pestilence walking in dark- 
ness, and famine wasting at noonday. 



doctrine of double-birth perfection. 347 

All these are consequent upon the backsliding 
fall of a once holy man. 

SAUL. 

"And it was so, that, when he had fumed his back to 
go from Samuel, God gave him another heart ; * * 
and the Spirit of God camewpon him, and he prophesied 
among them" (I. Sam. 10: 9, 10.) 

"Saul took a sword, and fell upon it. And when his 
armor-bearer saw that Saul was dead, he fell likewise up- 
on his sword, and died with him." (I. Sam. 31 : 4, 5.) 

(1) " God gave Saul another heart" He always 
gives good, pure hearts. 

(2) He even endowed him with the power of 
prophecy. He was with him, and greatly favor- 
ed him. 

(3) Saul at last committed suicide and went to 
ruin, after a career of great wickedness. 

SOLOMON. 

(1) Solomon was once the wisest man that 
ever lived. God gave him a special blessing of 
wisdom in answer to prayer. He was the author 
of some of the finest inspired composition in the 
Bible. He was a holy man. 

(2) Bat such was his conduct at last that God 
said, "I will rend the kingdom out of the hand of 
Solomon, * * because that they have forsaken me. 



348 TWENTY-EIGHT OBJECTIONS AGAINST THE 

and have worshiped Ashtoreth the goddess of the 
Zidonians, Chemosh the god of the Moabites, and 
Milcom the god of the children of Ammon, and 
have not walked in my ways, to -do that which is 
right in mine eyes, and to keep my statutes and 
my judgments, as did David his Father. * * Sol- 
omon sought therefore to kill Jeroboam. And 
Jeroboam arose, and fled in to Egypt, * * until the 
death of Solomon." (I. Kings 11 : 31, 33, 40.) 

(3) "There seems every evidence that he died 
in his sins. His crimes were greatly aggravated. 
He forsook the Lord, who had appeared unto him 
twice. His wives turned away his heart in his old 
age. There is not a single testimony in the Old 
or New Testament that intimates he died in a safe 
state. That awful denunciation of divine justice 
stands point-blank in the way of all contrary sup- 
position, 'If thou forsake the Lord, he will cast thee 
off forever.' (I. Chron. 28: 9.) He did forsake 
the Lord; and he forsook him in his very last 
days ; and there is no evidence that he ever again 
clave to him." (Clarke.) 

PETER. 

1. On the night of the betrayal, during the 
feast of the passover, Jesus said to his disciples, 
after Judas Iscariot had gone out, "Now ye are 
clean through the word which I have spoken unto you:' 



DOCTRINE OF DOUBLE-BIRTH PERFECTION. 349 

(John 15: 3.) This included Peter, of course 
Then Peter was in possession of a pure heart. 

2. Yet this same Peter falsely denied his bless- 
ed Lord three times, and swore he knew him not 
— all before three o'clock that same night. He 
soon repented, with bitter tears and a broken heart. 
The merciful Redeemer restored to him the joys 
of his salvation, made him useful in the world, 
suffered him to die on a cross for his religion, and 
took him home to glory. 

THE CHURCH OF EPHESUS. 

"Unto the angel of the church of Ephesus write ; 
These things saith he that holdeth the seven stars 
in his right hand, who walketh in the midst of 
the seven golden candlesticks; I know thy works, 
and thy labor, and thy patience, and how thou 
canst not bear them which are evil : and thou * 
hast tried them which say they are apostles, and are 
not, and hast found them liars : and hast borne, and 
hast patience, and for my name's sake hast labor- 
ed, and hast not fainted. Nevertheless I have some- 
what against thee, because thou hast left thy first love. 
Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and 
repent, and do the first ivorks; or else I will come 
unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candle- 
stick out of his place, except thou repent. 
But this thou hast, that thou hatest the deeds 



350 TWENTY-EIGHT OBJECTIONS AGAINST THE 

of the Nicol^itans, which L also hate." (Rev. 

2 : 1-6.) 

1. Here is a church who were once pure at 
heart, with God's love reigning in it. Now the 
life is gone. The holy, spiritual, saving life or. 
love which was imparted at regeneration is lost. ! 

2. They are backslidden, but unaware of it. 

They have 

(1) A plenty of religious profession. 

(2) They have their angel, messenger, or pas- 
tor; that is, their bishop, who was probably Tim- 
othy. 

(3) They have a plenty of religious forms — 
"forms of godliness, but [destitute of] the power." 

(4) They were very zealous. They had plen- 
ty of external "works" and "labor." 

(5) They labored with "patience" It was not 
the patience which grows from love, but such as 
actuates the soul filled with worldly ambition ; 
that is, a determination to succeed in the projected 
enterprise; such as actuated the Spartans, Na- 
poleon, William Tell, Fernando Cortes, &c. 

(6) They had a zeal for sound doctrine, which 
led them to test and expose impostors, and to hate 
the 'teachings of those who claimed to be apostles 
and were bogus, impostors, and of the Nicolai- 
tans. They were inflamed with a doctrinal and 
sectarian zeal, like that of Saul of Tarsus when 



DOCTRINE OF DOUBLE-BIRTH PERFECTION. 351 

on his way to Damascus to destroy Christians. 
He had much correct doctrine; but his zeal was 
not such as the Holy Ghost inspires. So with 
these Ephesians. They had zeal, but not love. 
. (7) They actually hated the abominable prac- 
tices of these Nicolaitans. The light of the 
gospel had not only shown them the wickedness 
of these practices, but also their destructive tend- 
encies in community and in the family. Con- 
science, policy, and doctrinal ambition united to 
inflame their hearts against the teachings, abom- 
inable practices, and pernicious example of these 

COMMUNISTIC FREE-LOVERS. 

3. With all these commendable intellectual 
principles and mechanical works and religious 
forms they were not in a justified state. God held 
a charge against them. The justified soul has 
"perfect peace with God" (Isa. 26: 3; Rom. 5: 1.) 
But to this church he says, U I have somewhat 
against thee" They were in a low, fallen condi- 
tion. "Remember from whence thou art fallen" 
This is much like Paul's language to the Gala- 
tians : " Ye are fallen from grace" (Gal. 5 : 4.) It 
is precisely like it in sentiment. Many of the 
Galatians were backslidden, and fallen from grace. 
So these Ephesians were nearly or quite all fallen, 
and in a state of condemnation. 

(1) Hence they needed a heart-work. Every 



352 TWENTY-EIGHT OBJECTIONS AGAINST THE 

man in this his moral condition needs another 
work to bring him up to the "first love" the moral 
purity which he once enjoyed by consequence of 
regeneration, 

(2) But the work they needed is not called a 
second work. The divine command is, "Remem- 
ber from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and 
do thy first works" Not a second work on their 
part to get a second divine work, but first works 
on their part (repent and trust) to obtain a first 
work, or "first love" from God on his part. 

(3) Thus we see their former moral state was 
not counted as of any value whatever. Their 
first experience was nothing, because it was lost. 
It was everything at the time of it; but now, be- 
ing lost, it was nothing. 

(4) But the thing that was lost was all they 
lacked to make them just what God wanted them 
to be. It was not something "of a different kind 
and infinitely greater than any before, and than 
any can conceive till he experience it," as Mr. 
Wesley says (C. P., page 23), that they needed 
to bring them up to God's standard of perfection. 
It was simply their "first love." It was just what 
they obtained when God regenerated them and 
spoke peace to their souls. It was not a double 
.birth, such as Mr. Wesley and his disciples in doc- 
trine teach (C. P., page 8) that they needed, but 



DOCTRINE OF DOUBLE-BIRTH PERFECTION. 353 

simply what they had obtained by one moral 
birth. 

(5) They were not so bad as those "'carnal, 
envious, contentious/' backslidden Corinthians, 
who are by the double-birth theologians called 
regenerate, and said to be only in need of the sec- 
ond work. Yet they (Ephesians) were required 
to "repent and do the first works" in order to ob- 
tain peace with God, and avert his impending 
wrath in the removal of all gospel light. They 
must take initiatory steps to become Christians. 
Yet they are not here accused of "carnality, envy, 
contention," or any other form of "babyishness," 
as were the backslidden portion of the Corinthian 
church. But their doctrinal zeal and intellectual 
attainments, their judicious discrimination, in 
short, their superiority in the intellectual and me- 
chanical parts of religion was highly commended. 
Yet they must take the "first steps" to become 
Christians. 

4. This case affords a sufficient answer to 
Bishop Castle's inquiry in the Religious Telescope 
of September 11, 1878. The Bishop says: 

"If holiness be the ultimatum of the Christian 
church, then, I ask, where is it to-day? Is its 
life an exponent of the grace? Why this wail all 
over Christendom that comes from dissatisfied 
hearts which still rest in the dissatisfaction ? Have 

23 



354 TWENTY-EIGHT OBJECTIONS AGAINST THE 

all thus complaining, who have professed regen- 
eration, been deceived? Or have they been re- 
generated and then backslidden? Or have they 
been regenerated and failed to go on to perfect 
love that casteth out fear ?" 

With the change of a solitary monosyllable, 
the bishop's last three sentences fairly represent 
two classes named. Let his last sentence say 
"Failed to go on in perfection," and he will have 
it right. There are certainly two classes of church- 
members,— those who were "deceived," and those 
who are backslidden by failing to go on in per- 
fection. They "have left their first love." They 
need to "repent, and do the first works." 

Many are backslidden and blind to the fifct, 
fancying, like the Laodiceans, that they are "rich, 
and increased with goods, and have need of nothing ; 
and know not that they are wretched, and miser- 
able, and poor, and blind, and naked." (Rev. 3 : 
17.) These also were backslidden. 

When second-work preachers meet with such 
churches they generally succeed well in their 
peculiar line for a time. A little labor will show 
.their members that their hearts do not harmonize 
with the requirements of God's word. They very 
well know that they were once converted. A 
very small quantity of flattery (most men can take 
flattery in large doses) will induce the belief that 



DOCTRINE OF DOUBLE-BIRTH PERFECTION* 355 

they are as good as they ever were. A dose, well 
compounded and proportioned, of this flattery in 
regard to their faithfulness to the grace and light 
hitherto possessed, and of stern, earnest exhorta- 
tion in regard to the Bible standard of holiness, 
will set them seeking not for the lirst love which 
they long since lost, but for a finer article, for 
the superior kind, for an article "of a different 
kind and infinitely greater than any before." They 
sometimes have awful struggles, just as backslid- 
ers deserve to have, and as backsliders' dark- 
ness, mixed with second-work darkness always 
produces. After desperate struggles, hopes, and 
fears thay finally surrender all into the hand of 
a merciful Redeemer, just as they did* at the first, 
and all is peace again. After so dire a struggle 
and schooling they learn watchfulness in good 
earnest. They now more easily remember the 
command, "Pray without ceasing," and feel a 
deeper necessity for practice. Having learned in 
the dire school of experience, their feet have be- 
come more wary. They cling with a greater te- 
nacity to the Rock of their salvation, and are less 
liable to fall. They are in the way, just as before 
they backslid ; and no one cau be more iu than 
simply in. But they now walk with a much 
greater wariness and proportionally less liability 
to slide out of the way. They are less liable to 



356 TWENTY-EtGUT OBJECTIONS AGAINST THE 

have their "ups and downs," which some unwise- 
ly tell us we all must have. 

5. We clearly see now that Christians may — 
and many do— fall from grace. Not only so ; but 
men may be in the backslidden state without real- 
ly knowing the fact, and deceive themselves (with 
Satan's careful help) by means of doctrinal and 
sectarian zeal and religious forms. We may fancy 
that we "are rich and increased with goods, and have 
need of nothing;' when we are, in fact "wretched 
and miserable, [that is, in a deplorable condition,] 
and poor, and blind, [not seeing our condition,] and 
■ naked;'— destitute of the robe of righteousness. 
This is a point which seems to be practically ig- 
nored by the writers of the doctrine under review. 

Mk. Wesley's Concession, 

In which he exposes not only his want of care- 
ful attention to the matter of backsliding, but also 
his want of implicit confidence in his own theory, 
deserves attention now. He says: 

"What! total resignation to the will of God, 
without any mixture of self-will? Gentleness 
without any touch of anger, eveu the moment we 
are provoked? Love to God without the least 
love to the creature, but in and for God, exclud- 
ing all pride? Love to man, excluding all envy, all 
jealousy, and rash judging? Meekness, keeping 



DOCTRINE OF DOUBLE BIRTH PERFECTION. 357 

the whole soul inviolably calm? And temperance 

in all things? Deny that any ever came up to 

this, if you please; but do not say all who are 

justified do. 

"Q. But some who are newly justified do. 

What, then, will you say to these? 

"Answer. If they realiy do, I will say they 
are sanctified, saved from sin in that moment, and 
that they never need lose what God has given, 
or feel sin any more. But certainly this is an ex- 
empt case. It is otherwise with the generality of 
those that are justified. They feel in themselves 
more or less pride, self-will, and a heart bent to 
backsliding. And till they have gradually morti- 
fied these, they are not fully renewed in love." 
(C. P., pages 38, 39.) 

1. Here we see that Mr. Wesley does not deny, 
but actually acknowledges that in some cases — 
which he is pleased to call "exempt cases" — the 
soul is fully saved from all sin in the moment of 
justification. 

(1) This is a surrender of his "second-work" 
doctrine. He is not able to deny that at least in 
"exempt cases" the new-born soul is purified and 
endued with all the Christian graces in full meas- 
ure and degree. 

(2) One of two things is certain now: Either 
God observes no regular method in the regenera- 



358 TWENTY-EIGHT OBJECTIONS AGAINST THE 

tion of souls, or else Mr. Wesley is incorrect when 
he says "they are exempt cases" in which persons 
"are sanctified and saved from all sin in the mo- 
ment of justification." 

(3) Are we to suppose that God has no regular 
method in regenerating souls; that he begets 
some pure and others impure? 

(4) And if he begets his children thus various- 
ly, some bearing his image purely and others hav- 
ing it mixed with sin, [Wesley says, "All sin is 
the work of the devil,"] a very important question 
arises; namely, How did Mr. Wesley find it out ? 
God has not revealed it so. He tells us that "by 
one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, 
whether we be Jews or gentiles, whether we be 
bond or free; and have all been made to drink 
into the same Spirit." This indicates one regular, 
invariable method. Mr. Wesley is mistaken. 
There are certainly no "exempt cases." The 
cases are all alike. "God's ways are equal." 

(5) Mr. Wesley's theory, as we now clearly 
gee, is obviously based not on God's infallible word, 
but on Mr. Wesley's fallible observations. Accord- 
ing to his observation "the generality of those that 
are justified feel in themselves more or less pride, 
self-will, and a heart bent to backsliding." If 
this were correct, then God's general rule must 
be to beget children with "a heart bent to back- 



DOCTRINE OF DOUBLE-BIRTH PERFECTION. 359 

sliding;' 7 and hie exemption rule must be to be- 
get some pure and holy. This places God's work 
in a most slanderous light. It makes God partial 
in his dealings with his creatures. "God is no 
respecter of persons." (Acts 10 : 34.) 

(6) Some of the more modern doctors of the 
double-birth divinity make dreadful havoc of their 
father's position on the regenerate soul's tendency 
to backsliding. 

Dr. Wood says, "Does a state of justification 
involve a desire to be holy? It does. If a man 
is a Christian, and in a justified state, he will have 
the heart of a child of God, and desire to render 
to him a present, full, and unreserved obedience. 
This is implied in the very nature of true relig- 
ion." (P. L., page 212.) 

Dr. J. T. Peck says, "Regeneration in its low- 
est state loves holiness, and pants to be filled with 
it." 

Dr. Daniel Steele says, "Every justified person 
is a saint, and is advancing toward entire sancti- 
fication, and is earnestly panting after it." (Pri- 
vate letter, Feb. 21, 1880.) 

Dr. Caughey says, "A hearty desire for purity 
is the brightest gem that sparkles in real justifica- 
tion. * * It is inseparably attached to it." 

Here are four of Mr. Wesley's disciples on the 
main question who flatly contradict their father 



360 TWENTY-EIGHT OBJECTIONS AGAINST THE 

in regard to the regenerate heart being bent on 
backsliding. If they are correct, Mr. Wesley is 
surely wroug; for the heart that is panting for 
holiness surely can not be "bent to backsliding/' 
and vice versa. And if they are incorrect, this 
will not prove Mr. Wesley correct. 

(7) His statements involve great inconsistency. 
He builds his theory, as we have seen, not on the Bi- 
ble, but on his own observation. He declares upon 
his own observation that "the hearts of the justi- 
fied are bent on backsliding." If he observed 
them before they were backslidden, how could he 
know that they were bent on backsliding, seeing 
that the only thing on which he could base such 
an opinion was not yet in existence? If he ob- 
served them after they were backslidden, then 
they were not proper exponents of the regenerate 
heart, seeing that they were no longer in the re- 
generate state. 

And right here is the explanation of Mr. Wesley's 
whole prodigious blunder relative to this great 
question. He has judged the regenerate heart by the 
heart and conduct of the backslider. Whoever exam- 
ineshisuseof I. Cor. 3 : 1-3, and Gal. 5 : 17, will see 
that his eyes were blinded by gazing at the back- 
slider, and mistaking him for a Christian. This 
grave blunder led him astray, and is ruining mul- 
titudes throughout Christendom. It is the prin- 



DOCTRINE OF DOUBLE-BIRTH PERFECTION. 361 

cipal means by which the double-birth doctrine is 
kept in vogue. It is also the principal means by 
which the standard of true piety is kept down on 
a level with the wishes and lusts of the carnal 
mind. The carnal eyes, the vitiated taste, the 
blinded reason, the perverted judgment, and the 
corrupt motives of backslidden members are made 
the umpires of ethics in the churches to a dis- 
graceful and destructive extent. The consequence 
is that a very large percentage of the so-called 
conversions in the churches are bogus, consisting 
of a conviction of being on the broad road, a res- 
olution to start for heaven, a slight thrill of the 
nervous system by the new resolution, the enroll- 
ment of names, church-melody and church-flat- 
tery. The Holy- v Ghost baptism, by which alone 
the soul is brought into the family, the favor; the 
fellowship, and the kingdom of God, is not ex- 
pected, not prayed for, not waited for, and conse- 
quently not experienced. But another name is 
written on the church-roll, and another advocate 
of mechanical religion is in the field. Another 
conscience has been lulled to sleep. But no heart 
has been added to the number of regenerates, no 
strength to the army of God. 

(8) Mr. Wesley is obviously inconsistent with 
himself when he judges that the "regenerate heart 
is bent to backsliding," and is therefore wanting 



862 TWENTY-EIGHT OBJECTIONS AGAINST THE 

in moral parity, — "full of sin," — simply upon his 
own observation that they do backslide; for he 
attributes precisely the same thing to those who 
he claims have received the second work. Speak- 
ing of "those who are perfect in love," he says, 
"Neither does any one stand by virtue of anything 
that is implied in the nature of the state. * * 
Nay, it is an exceeding common thing for persons 
to lose it more than once, before they are estab- 
lished therein." (C. P., page 43.) In another 
place he says, "God does not give them a stock of 
holiness. But unless they receive a supply every 
moment, nothing but unholiness would remain. 51 
(Page 32.) 

a. If these statements are true, we may well 
inquire, Wherein does the superiority of the "sec- 
ond, work" over the first consist, allowing Mr. 
Wesley to be judge? According to his view they 
appear to be both "bent to backsliding." 

6. If the regenerate heart "is bent to backslid- 
ing," and if "it is exceeding common for those 
who are perfect in love to lose it more than once 
before they are established therein," it seems 
passing strange that Mr. Wesley could not see the 
almost unmistakable evidences in Paul's letters to 
the Corinthians and Galatians, that some of the 
members of those churches were backslidden. And 
our astonishment at the acuteness of Mr. Wesley's 



LOCTRINE OF DOUBLE-BIRTH PERFECTION. 363 

vision in the one class of cases and blindness in the 

■ 

other, becomes greater when we consider the fol- 
lowing expression from his pen. He says, "As a 
very little dust will disorder a clock, and the least 
sand will obscure our sight, so the least grain of 
sin, which is upon the heart, will hinder its right 
motion toward God. 5 (C. P., page 54.) 

According: to this the least sin in the heart 
makes its motions wrong and displeasing to God; 
yet a soul full of abominations, pride, hell, and 
Satan can enjoy the sweet smiles of his approba- 
tion and an heirship to eternal glory, according to 
Mr. Wesley. 

"0 CONSISTENCY, THOU ART A JEWEL." 

OBJECTION 27. 

THE DOUBLE-BIRTH DOCTRINE NEEDS SUPPORT FROM 

SOPHISTRY. 

Besides the numerous contradictions of the 
Scriptures, contradictions of one another, self-con- 
tradictions and sophistries employed by the dou- 
ble-birth theologians, and brought under review in 
the preceding pages, it may not be amiss to pre- 
sent yet the following by way of showing more 
fully the beggarly character of the doctrine, as 
well as preparing the reader more fully to meet 
the vast array of absurdities to be met by the ad- 
vocates of truth. 



384 TWENTY-EIGHT OBJECTIONS AGAINST THE 

Professor Thomas C. Upham, on "Growth in Ho- 
liness." 

He says, "That a thing may be perfect in its na- 
ture, and yet be susceptible of growth or advance- 
ment in degree, is, I suppose, a matter of common 
observation. An oak, when it first rises above the 
surface of the ground, is so small and weak that it 
may easily be trodden under foot; and yet it is 
as really and truly an oak as when it subsequently 
stands forth in the strength and stature of a hun- 
dred years. A human being is in his nature as 
much human being in the period of infancy, as in 
the subsequent expansion and growth of manhood. 
* * * Illustrations and facts of this kind seem 
to make it clear that the spiritually renovated 
state of mind, which is variously called holiness, 
perfect love, and sanctification, may be susceptible 
of growth or increase. * * * We may lay it 
down as a general truth, that perfection in the na- 
ture of a thing is requisite to perfection in degree. 
And accordingly, although it is possible for a per- 
son who is partially holy to grow in holiness, a 
person who is entirely holy, although he may be 
assailed by unfavorable influences outwardly, will 
grow much more." (Interior Life, pages 267, 

268.) 

1. With such arguments before us we do well 
to remember that holiness does not consist in mag- 



DOCTRINE OF DOUBLE-BIRTH PERFECTION. 365 

nitude nor strength of muscle or intellect. A man 
may be very large and stout physical]} 7 , and pos- 
sess a very powerful intellect, and yet be a very 
bad man. Another may be very diminutive in 
muscle, and feeble in intellect, and yet possess a 
pure heart. Some angels are mightier than oth- 
ers, and yet they are all holy in heaven. 

2. The question at issue, then, is not as to 
whether a man's muscle may grow and strength- 
en, nor whether his intellect may become stronger, 
or his knowledge increase, but whether his holi- 
ness may grow aud increase. Not whether the 
soul may become stronger after its purification, 
but whether its purity may become purer, its ho- 
liness HOLIER, its RIGHTEOUSNESS MORE righteOUS. 

After the soul is made perfectly pure, can it still 
undergo the process of purification ? 

3. Holiness is moral purity, freedom from sin 
and loving God with all its powers, "pure love 
reigning alone in the heart" The professor says the 
soul may be "partially holy," that in this partially 
holy state its holiness may grow; but when it be- 
comes perfectly holy its holiness "will grow much 
more." That is to say, that when a thing has be- 
come perfectly clean, the process of its cleansing 
may proceed more rapidly than it did before. Can 
pollution be more rapidly removed where it has 
been so thoroughly removed that the object is 



366 TWENTY-EIGHT OBJECTIONS AGAINST THE 

perfectly clean and there is no more pollution re- 
maining than it was before? This is what the 
professor seems to think his illustrations prove. 
But when we look directly at them for ourselves, 
we see that they prove precisely the reverse. The 
oak is not more purely an oak at the end of two 
centuries' growth, than it was when it could be 
crushed with the foot. The human being is not 
more purely human at the age and strength of 
thirty years, than when in the infantile cradle. 
The tree and the child may grow in stature and 
strength, but their natures do not grow. They 
have precisely the same generic and specific na- 
tures at full maturity as when in infancy. So the 
Christian's nature is the same pure Christian na- 
ture in the first moment of his divine heirship as 
at the end of scores of years of growth. He need- 
ed a change of moral nature, and has obtained it; 
now his moral nature is divine— he is a "partaker 
of the divine nature." (II. Peter 1:4.) 
* That divine moral nature can not become more 
divine, for the same reason that an oak can not 
become more oaken, nor a human being become 
more human. Thus the pious professor's illustra- 
tions are obviously against his position. 

4. The sophism here under review has been 
used times without number to pave the way for 
the use of all scriptures relating to Christum 



DOCTRINE OF DOUBLE-BIRTH PERFECTION. 367 

growth * in the interest of the double-birth the- 
ology. It is high time that we should brush away 
such mists, and look at the truth for ourselves. 

President Asa Mahan's Mistakes on Partial 
Faith deserves attention here. 

This excellent man says, 1. "We may repose 
confidence in one, and not in every feature of 
Christ's character as a Savior. For example, the 
mind, in consequence of the ignorance of the per- 
fect fullness of Christ's redemption in all respects, 
may repose full confidence in Christ as a justifying, 
but not as a sanctifying Savior. 2. For the same 
reason the mind may repose confidence in Christ, 
for sustaining grace in one condition in life, and 
not in another. We may, for example, expect 
Christ to bless us in our closets, but not in the 
midst of our business transactions. The faith of 
all such persons is imperfect. Perfect faith, on the 
other hand, is a full and unshaken confidence in 
Christ, as in all respects, at all times, and in every 
condition, a full and perfect Savior, a Savior able 
and willing to meet every possible demand of our 
being." (Scrip. Doc. Chris. Perf., Dis. IV.) 

Against the president's view on imperfect faith 
I bring, 

1. The testimony of three popular double-birth 
theologians, namely, Mr. J. Hoke, Dr. J. A. Wood, 

*See "OBJECTION 28." 



368 TWENTY-EIGHT OBJECTIONS AGAINST THE 

and Dr. Daniel Steel. If these excellent gentle- 
men all testify against their own doctrine as well 
as against their brother theologian's hypothesis of 
partial faith, that is none of my business. I quote 
from autograph letters open before me. 

Mr. Hoke, under date of January 31, 1880, says, 
"In regard to the question, 'Can a soul obtain par- 
don — justification on partial faith?' I answer, 
No. Faith in every case must be full and perfect 
or it is not faith at all." 

Dr. Wood says, "No one is justified on partial 
faith." (Feb. 2, 1880.) 

Dr. Steel, under date of Feb. 21, 1880, says, "1 
do not know what partial faith is. * • ■* * The 
penitent who has faith enough in Christ to trust 
in him, and him only, will be pardoned. The soul 
that consciously withholds anything from God 
can not exercise saving faith." 

These excellent gentlemen are correct in the 
statements just quoted; but they are not consist- 
ent with their own doctrine. It assumes the idea 
of imperfect partial faith. The president is consist- 
ent with the doctrine which he and they all hold, 
but inconsistent with the Bible. 

2. The Bible nowhere teaches that the soul can 
obtain pardon on a partial or an imperfect faith. 
The command is, "Trust in the Lord with all thine 
heart" Philip said to the Ethiopian, "If thou be- 



DOCTRINE OF DOUBLE-BIRTH PERFECTION. 369 

lievest with all thine heart, thou mayest." All the 
heart handed over to Christ as a living, all-suffi- 
cient Savior, is required of every soul as an inva- 
riable prerequisite to pardon. And this is all that 
it can do as a prerequisite to any grace of the 
Holy Spirit. 

3. The president surely differs with Isaiah in 
assuming that the soul must clearly comprehend 
"every feature of Christ's character and the per- 
fect fullness of Christ's redemption in all respects," 
before it can exercise the faith that brings sancti- 
fication. Isaiah says, "The wayfaring men, though 
fools, shall not err therein." The sin-sick soul 
submits fully its case to the great Physician, with- 
out the least apprehension that it is expected ei- 
ther to understand fully the nature and extent of 
its disease, or the nature and extent of the physi- 
cian's powers or his remedy; much less is it ex- 
pected to comprehend the infinite character of the 
great Physician. If angels can not fully compre- 
hend either the Author of salvation or his won- 
drous plan in its fathomless depths^ how can the 
unsanctified soul do so ? 

4. The president assumes the very point in 
dispute, the very point to be proved, and takes it 
as an illustration to establish another point which 
he wishes to use as an argument in support of the 
assumed main point. His argument runs about 

24 



370 TWENTY-EIGHT OBJECTIONS AGAINST THE 

like this, Black is white. To illustrate, orange is 
yellow, and indigo is blue ; therefore black is 

white. 

5. He makes use of the well-known fact that 
the soul can not to-day believe for to-morrow, in 
order to establish the idea that the "mind may re- 
pose confidence in Christ, for sustaining grace in 
one condition in life, and not in another." We 
can not to-day exercise faith for to-morrow, any 
more than an Israelite could gather manna on 
Tuesday morning to last him over Wednesday 
and Thursday. Jesus teaches us to pray, "Give 
us this day our daily bread." But he never teaches 
us to do up our praying and trusting now for any 
future period. We must now trust for now. Now 
is all the time we ever have or shall have. To- 
morrow is never now. When we cease trusting 
Christ as our physician, he ceases keeping us in 
health. "The just shall live by faith." "You do 
take away my life when you do take away that by 
which I live." "Abide in me, and I [will abide] 
in you." "He that believeth not is condemned al- 
ready," not because he failed yesterday, or may 
/to-morrow, but because he fails now to trust all in 
Jesus' hand. Peter walked on the surface of the 
blue Galilee while he trusted his Lord. Doubting 
caused the God-man to withdraw his sustaining 
power. Gravitation drew the doubter downward. 



DOCTRINE OF DOUBLE-BIRTH PERFECTION. 371 

When he saw himself in the forlorn condition of 
sinking, — which .fitly illustrates the backslider, — 
he, like those backsliders who seek the "second 
work," cried desperately for help. The once sink- 
ing doubter, now trusting alias at first, finds him- 
self walking on the surface again, as do those who 
claim the second work. 

The third sophism we notice is that which is 
built on the blble doctrine of holiness. 

1. It is well known that Dr. J. Calvin denied 
the attainability of holiness in this life. 

2. It is also well known that Mr. J. Wesley 
affirmed what Calvin denied, declaring that "even 
babes in Christ are so far perfect as not to commit 
sin," and that the heart may attain to a state of 
perfect moral purity in this life, and continue 
therein. 

3. Every believer of the Bible necessarily 
holds to one of these opinions and rejects the 
other. . Thus the Christian world is divided 
into two classes, respecting these two opposite 
doctrines. 

4. Yet there are very many in each of these 
two classes who do not fully indorse either Calvin 
or Wesley on all points of their respective systems 
of doctrine. 



872 TWENTY-EIGHT OBJECTIONS AGAINST THE 

5. But many of those who can see no other re- 
ligious leader but John Wesley,. can see no imper- 
fection in his S3^stem. They think there can be no 
consistency in taking a part of his system and re- 
jecting a part, seeing that, as they suppose, both 
the man and his system are perfect. Therefore 
they indorse him without limitation. 

(j. Thus taking another man's eyes and ears 
and judgment and understanding as the only le- 
gitimate medium for the influx of religious ideas to 
their souls, their own senses naturally enough go 
into disuse and become pitifully dwarfed. 

7. The consequence is that whatever the Bible 
says, it seems to them to say in unlimited indorse- 
ment of John Wesley. Hence, of course, all it 
says in favor of the doctrine of the present attain- 
ability of holiness is by these parasites understood 
as teaching the necessity of the "second work" or 
double moral birth ; for Mr. Wesley expressly de- 
clares that "if there be no such second change, if 
there be no instantaneous deliverance after regen- 
eration, then we must content ourselves, as well as 
we can, to remain full of sin till death." 

8. Now it is very easy to find abundance of 
passages in the Bible teaching the doctrine* of the 
present attainability of holiness; therefore all such 
passages are carefully conscripted and pressed into 



DOCTRINE OF DOUBLE-BIRTH PERFECTION. 373 

the service of the double-birth theory, as if it were 
utterly impossible for them to have any other 
meaning, seeing that Mr. Wesley so understood 
and so interpreted them. 

9. To such an extent has this sophistry beeu 
promulgated that multitudes of good minds are 
to-day enshrouded in the dismal cloud. 

They can not find it in the Bible of God; they 
could not find it in their experience after long and 
earnest seeking, yet the Bible requires present ho- 
liness. God offers it now, but John Wesley says 
it can only be obtained by a second, separate, dis- 
tinct change or birth, after regeneration of a dif- 
ferent kind and infinitely greater; therefore the 
Bible must mean this, for Mr. Wesley says so, and 
he could not be mistaken. 

Hence they are crushed beneath this cloud of 
sophistry, and made to feel that it would be a 
crime to possess sanctification, holiness, or perfect 
love, for Dr. Calvin declares that no one can make 
such an attainment in this life, and Mr. Wesley 
says it can only be obtained by a double birth. 
Thus many are thrown into despair, others into 
infidelity. But a vast multitude, escaping these, 
fall into the awful opinion, for which Satan is now 
struggling harder than for any other means of de- 
struction, namely, the popular belief that a man 
can be both a Christian and a sinner at the same 



374 TWENTY-EIGHT OBJECTIONS AGAINST THE 

time. This is the most extensively received opin- 
ion now extent in Christendom, excepting only a 
general kind of belief in the Bible. Men will ar- 
gue for a mongrel Christianity who would be 
greatly offended if accused of believing in it. This 
I have ascertained by actual experiment with 
bright minds. The bewilderment on this point is 
simply astounding. Ask any one of a large ma- 
jority of professing Christians, "Sir, do you be- 
lieve in the existence of such a being as a Chris- 
tian-sinner?" and he will think you are jesting. 
Divert his attention from the point, and approach 
it from another quarter, and ask him whether he 
believe in the attainability of a sinless, moral state, 
and he will promptly answer, "No." You will 
find such self-contradiction in the minds of some 
of the most learned theologians in Christendom. 
The amazing bewilderment has arisen out of the 
sophistry under review, in connection with the 
very convenient item in the systems of both Calvin 
" and Wesley; namely, that a man maybe a Chris- 
tian and full of sin at the same time. 

10. One of the evils growing out of the sophis- 
try under review is the bitter fact that all who 
speak a word against the double-birth theory are 
forthwith branded as opposers of holiness. Those 
who inflict the brand arrogate to themselves the 
pretentious title of 



doctrine of double-birth perfection. 375 
"Holiness People/' 
and call their meetings by the pretentious name of 

"Holiness Meetings/' 

as if they were the only holy people on earth, and 
their meetings the only ones for the promotion of 
holiness; whereas it ought to be understood that 
everj 7 Christian is aholy person, and every Christian 
meeting a holiness meeting. It ought moreover 
to be understood that God's Bible teaches present 
attainable holiness without the double birth. One 
birth from God the holy, the pure, the most lovely 
secures a state of holiness to the soul. 

11. Let every soul beware of the sophistry 
which argues the double-birth doctrine from ev- 
erything which favors holiness. And let the 
sophists beware of branding the opposers of doub- 
le birth with the false accusation that they oppose 
holiness. And let the opposers of the double moral 
birth doctrine be careful to use no weapon but "the 
sword of the Spirit," rejecting all carnal weapons 
and all malice. Let all beware of adding to or 
taking from the holy word of the omniscient 
God. 



376 TWENTY-EIGHT OBJECTIONS AGAINST THE 

OBJECTION 28. 

THE DOUBLE-BIRTH THEOLOGY PERVERTS THE BIBLE 
DOCTRINE OF GROWTH IN GRACE, AND CONFUSES THE 
MIND IN REGARD TO IT. 

It is just to remember that this objection lies 
heavier against the conduct of its advocates than 
it does against the doctrine itself. Yet a thorough 
examination of our subject requires that we notice 
our present objection under a distinct head. We 
shall, in doing so, get a clearer and broader view of 
the contradictions and subterfuges to which its 
advocates feel themselves obliged to resort from 
destitution of scripture evidence. 

1. At one time they will boldly declare, as Dr. 
J. A. Wood does, that "holiness is not obtained by 
growth in grace." * * Growing in grace is not 
the process of separating sin from the soul either 
before or after entire sanctification. * * Its ex- 
termination is not to be looked for by growth in 
- grace, but through creating, cleansing power." 
(Page 61.) 

Mr. Wesley says, "I believe this perfection is al- 
ways wrought in the soul by a simple act of faith, 
consequently in an instant. To talk of this work as 
being gradual would be nonsense." (P. L., p. 65.) 

(1) These expressions would lead the mind to 
the just conclusion that the state of perfect moral 



DOCTRINE OF DOUBLE-BIRTH PERFECTION. 377 

purity is invariably wrought in the heart by an 
instantaneous act of divine power. 

(•J) They would also lead to the conclusion 
that whenever the work which they call "entire 
sanctification" is wrought in the heart it is brought 
into a state of perfect moral purity — a state in 
which there is a total absence of all moral defile- 
ment. On this point Bishop Castle is very ex- 
plicit. Quoting Bishop Hedding he says, "Regen- 
eration is the beginning of purification; entire 
sanctification is the finishing of that work." (An- 
swer 4.) 

They all agree that entire sanctification oc- 
curs at the time of what they call the sec- 
ond work. Entire sanctification, they tell us, con- 
stitutes the second work. This, then, the two 
bishops just quoted tell us, finishes the work of 
purification. Thus we have these eminent divines, 
Wesley, Wood, Castle, and Hedding all teaching 
that the process of moral purification never pro- 
ceeds gradually, but always instantaneously. And 
they also agree that at the second effort of divine 
energy — which they hold is essential to entire 
sanctification, — the process of purification is per- 
fectly completed. 

2. But when these same divines are driven to 
the wall from want of evidence in support of their 
double-birth doctrine as a whole, they become so 



378 TWENTY-EIGHT OBJECTIONS AGAINST THE 

anxious to impress us with the idea that moral 
perfection is never reached in regeneration, but 
must be subsequently made a special object of pur- 
suit, and a distinct attainment, they seem to forget 
the ideas of instantaneity and completeness, and 
become much engrossed with gradual and even 
perpetual progress. Then you will hear them 
saying, "If to be in Christ is at once the securing 
in actual experience of all that he is, then we are 
certainly at a dead-lock in the line of progress, 
and must henceforth lack the incentives to further 
endeavor/ 5 (Bishop Castle, Tel, April 30, 1879.) 
Then you will hear Dr. Wood saying, "Simple 
purity or holiness is but a low state of grace com- 
pared to being 'filled with all the fullness of God.' 
* * The great measure of our advancement in 
holiness should be subsequent to the purification, 
the utter extirpation of sin from our hearts. * * * 
Growth in grace is principally subsequent to be- 
ing cleansed from all sin." (P. L., page 219.) 
-: Then you will hear Mr. Wesley saying, "The 
generality of those that are justified feel in them- 
selves more or less pride, self-will, and a heart 
bent to backsliding. And till they have gradually 
mortified these they are not fully renewed in love" 
(C. P., pages 38, 39.) (We remember about "non- 
sense") 

(1) Dr. Wood would have come nearer correct- 



V 



DOCTRINE OF DOUBLE-BIRTH PERFECTION. 379 

ness if he had said "growth in grace is entirely sub- 
sequent to being cleansed from all sin." 

(2) But he not only contradicts reason, com- 
mon sense, and all true metaphysics, but even Dr. 
J. A. Wood, when he says, "The great meas- 
ure of our advancement in * * holiness should 
be subsequent to the purification, the utter extir- 
pation of sin from our hearts." 

a. He tells us purity is holiness. 

b. He tells us elsewhere that all sin is extir- 
pated, and the heart made perfectly pure and holy 
at sanctification. 

c. He tells us that after this "utter extirpation 
of sin from our hearts the great measure of our 
advancement in holiness should be made." This 
would make an advancement in holiness a contin- 
uing process. 1. This is contradictory to state- 
ments above quoted from this same author, in 
which he declares the work of moral cleans- 
ing;, to be instantaneous. 2. It also involves 
an impossibility — the idea of continuing the 
process of extirpation after there is nothing 
left to extirpate. Mark, holiness is moral pur- 
ity. Moral purity is achieved by the extirpa- 
tion of si i) or moral impurity. Growth in holiness 
therefore would consist in the extirpation of sin. 
This, he tells us, is principally accomplished after 
the extirpation of sin has been entirely completed. 



380 TWENTY-EIGHT OBJECTIONS AGAINST THE 

This is as absurd as it would be to talk of grub- 
bing briers day after day from a field that has just 
been made perfectly free from all briers and their 
roots. A boy tells his father, "I have grubbed 
every brier and every other root out of that field. 
It is now perfectly clean from every root." "Very 
well," says the father, "now that field is in the right 
condition ,to grow cleaner and freer from briers 
and their roots. You see, my son, when the briers 
have been utterly extracted and exterminated from 
a field, so that it is perfectly clean, then is the 
time when the process of cleansing can proceed 
with the greatest facility. So now, my boy, you 
will go right on grubbing briers from that field." 
Where is the boy who would not, in such a case, 
commence seriousl v considering how near the time 
must be when his dear father would be separated 
from his family and taken to the lunatic asylum. 
How much would the boy be relieved of his solic- 
itude if the father should assign as a reason .for 
liis suggestion the one assigned by Bishop Castle, 
as quoted above, and say, "You see, my dear child, 
if we should now consider that field perfectly 
clean, 'then we are certainly at a dead-lock in the 
line of progress, and must henceforth lack the in- 
centives to further endeavor.' " The boy could 
easily reply, "Why, father, we can find ample 
scope for our endeavors in growing wheat on that 



DOCTRINE OF DOUBLE BIRTH PERFECTION. 381 

field, without pretending to grub briers when 
there are none." But the boy would not likely 
feel very talkative in view of his father's loss of 
rationality. 

at 

These theologians are continually telling us that 
the ''second work" takes out all the roots of bit- 
terness from the heart, making it perfectly clean 
and free from everything of the kind, that this 
work is performed instantaneously, and that the 
cleansing process never proceeds gradually. And 
yet they will tell us that "although it is possible 
for a person who is partially holy to grow in ho- 
liness, a person who is entirely holy will grow 
much more." (Upham's Interior Life, page 268.) 

Thus they have the work of growing in grace 
to consist in the gradual growth of holiness, the 
growth of a quality or of a condition of our moral 
nature, in the extraction and extermination of 
roots from a field w T here they have been utterly 
exterminated. 

Mr. Wesley, who, as we have seen, declares 
that "to talk of this work as being gradual would 
be nonsense," elsewhere declares of the perfectly 
sanctified, holy soul, "Yet he still grows in the 
image of God, and will do so, not only till death, 
but probably to all eternity." (0. P., page 23.) 
The moral image of God is "righteousness and 
true holiness." (Eph. 4: 24.) 



382 TWENTY-EIGHT OBJECTIONS AGAINST THE 

To grow in the image of God, therefore, is to 
grow in holiness; and to grow in this image 
through life and eternity would certainly be a per- 
petual, gradual growth in holiness. This would 
involve the idea of a perpetual extraction and ex- 
termination of roots from a field where they were 
all exterminated in the start. 

Thus Mr. Wesley, like Dr. Wood and Professor 
Upham, contradicts all reason, all true metaphys- 
ics, and Mr. Wesley too. Thus he talks what he 
calls nonsense. And thus the mind is confused in 
regard to the Bible doctrine of growth in grace. 
The sacred word says, "As new-born babes, de- 
sire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow 
thereby." (I. Peter 2 : 2.) " Grow in grace, and in 
the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ:' 
(II. Peter 3: 18.) Paul said to the church at 
Thessalonica, " Your faith groweth exceedingly:' I 
read also, " The righteous shall grow like a cedar in 
Lebanon:' (Psalms 92 : 12.) 

* But I read also of the Messiah that "He shall 
grow up before him as a tender plant:' (Isa. 53: 2.) 
"Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in fa- 
vor with God and man." (Luke 2: 52.) Jesus 
was always purely holy. Hence we know that his 
holiness never improved. Hence we see that a 
person may grow without his holiness growing. 
Holiness never grows. We never read of its growth 






DOCTRINE OF DOUBLE-BIRTH PERFECTION. 383 

in the sacred word. As truth can never grow 
truer, and righteousness can never grow better, so 
purity can never grow purer nor holiness holier. 
Spots can not be removed from the spotless, nor 
briers from the brierless. The apple-tree that is 
so small that a single apple would crush it, is just 
as thoroughly and completely an apple-tree as the 
tree of a century's growth under a crop of forty 
bushels of apples. So the Christian of an hour's 
age is as pure as the patriarch of a century's 
growth. What the^t is meant by growing in 

GRACE? 

ANSWER. 

1. Growth in knowledge. 

1. Satan can destroy the soul only by decep- 
tion; just as in the garden, so now, 

2. To escape his devices, snare, and corruption, 
requires knowledge and a vigilant use of it. 
" Watch and pray, lest ye enter into temptation:' 

3. A knowledge of the danger of backsliding 
and a constant remembrance of it is the first thing 
in order for the converted soul. Whenever he 
thinks he is perfectly secure and needs no vigi- 
lance, nor the constant help of God to keep him 
from defilement, backsliding, and ruin, then his 
danger is exceedingly great. He is sure to fall, 
unless he quickly learn his mistake, and as quick- 



384 TWENTY-EIGHT OBJECTIONS AGAINST THE 

ly set his guard strong and vigilant against the 
mighty destroyer. 

4. A knowledge of the best means and meth- 
ods of working for the glory of God will be both 
interesting and important to the new-born soul. 

" Whether ye eat or drink or whatsoever ye do, do 
all to the glory of God." "Covet earnestly the best 

gifts." 

God has no place for idlers. Satan is against 
God, against his kingdom, his children, and his 
glory. The soul that is for ^rod is as surely against 
Satan. Jesus puts a sword into his hand. This 
is "the sivord of the Spirit, which is the word of God." 
With this he learns how to defend himself, and 
how to rescue others from Satan, Thus he adds 
to the number of lovers and worshipers of his 
God, the strength of his kingdom, and the quan- 
tity of his glory, Here is scope for all the powers 
of body and of mind he has or can have. To 
wield the sword effectively requires study, energy, 
and perseverance. He who loves God with all 
his heart, and his neighbor as himself, will delight 
in doing all he can for the glory of the one and 
the salvation of the other. He who has not a 
burning zeal for God's kingdom and glory and the 
salvation of souls either never was converted, or is 
backslidden badly. Such is the case with multi- 
tudes who are called Christians. They have a name 



DOCTRINE OF DOUBLE-BIRTH PERFECTION. 385 

to live, and are dead. They spend their strength, 
time, talent, and money for their own gratification 
in pursuit of the riches, honors, and pleasures of 
this world. They are "carnal, sold under sin" 
They have lost their first love, if they ever had 
any, and must repent, and do their first work, or 
soon be left entirely without moral light, and so 
go down in delusion to ruin. Satan's great de- 
light is to deceive all such with the notion that 
they are Christians. Hence his mighty struggle 
to blind the theologians, teachers of the people, 
and through them the people, with the idea that 
a man may be a Christian on his way to glory 
and a carnal lover of the world at the same time. 
This is one of the first and most important decep- 
tions to guard against. "With all thy getting, 
get understanding." "Buy the truth and sell it 
not." "Grow in grace and in the knowledge of 
our Lord and Savior." "Light is sown for the 
righteous" (Ps. 97:11.) 

A dozen workmen may hire to a farmer, and 
be equally devoted to his interests and faithful in 
their duties; yet some may be greatly inferior to 
others as laborers, from want of knowledge, 
strength, or agility. He may regard them with 
equal confidence and affection. But he can not 
so highly prize the most awkward, who, with all 
his good intentions, frequently breaks tools, for- 

25 



386 TWENTY-EIGHT OBJECTIONS AGAINST THE 

gets to close gates, forgets to feed or water his 
team, breaks or braises fruit-trees, &c, &c, as he 
does that most experienced one who seldom ever 
forgets to do the right thing at the right time and 
in the right manner, and never breaks tools or 
injures trees. And if the final reward of the 
workmen were to consist in a public exhibition of 
a statistical report of all their work and the profit 
which they brought into the farmer's treasury, 
there would be a great difference in the honors 
which would rest on the laborers from public sen- 
timent. 

"The Son of man shall come in the glory of 
his Father with his angels; and then he shall re- 
ward every man according to his works." (Matt. 
16 : 27.) *"Many of them that sleep in the dust 
of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, 
and some to shame and everlasting contempt. 
And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness 
of the firmament ; and they that turn many to right- 
^eousness, as the stars forever and ever." (Dan. 
12: 2, 3.) The firmament is beautiful; the stars 
shine brighter. They will all be honored and 
happy who enter heaven. But they will have 
greatest honor who gather most sheaves in pro- 
portion to opportunities and inherited ability. 
Some improve, while others bury their native tal- 
ents. Some seek opportunities for doing good, 



DOCTRINE OF LOUBLE-BIRTH PERFECTION. 387 

while others close their eyes when they are pre- 
sented. God sees all, and records it. The great 
day will reveal the record. Thenceforth the books 
will be perpetually open for inspection. They wilL 
show facts. If Paul won ten thousand souls to the 
love of Christ, and James won two hundred, the 
book will not show ten thousand won by James 
and only two hundred by Paul. This would be 
falsehood. The book will show only truth. 

2. Grow in faith. 

Faith may be said to grow in two respects. 

1. In the range or extent of its vision. As 
our knowledge of God, his ways, his works, his 
word, his promises, and the plan of his govern- 
ment increases, we take a more extensive view of 
the vast field of privilege lying before us. At 
first we may conceive it to be our privilege to ex- 
pect God to provide for our spiritual wants, but 
pay no special attention to our temporal interests, 
nor our intellectual wants. 

2. No child of God doubts the infinity of his 
divine Father in every good attribute. He could 
never make the complete surrender of himself 
into His hands, which alone can render it 
consistent for God to stoop and save him, unless 
he first possessed unlimited confidence in His all- 
sufficiency. "Without this it would be simply im- 



388 TWENTY-EIGHT OBJECTIONS AGAINST THE 

possible to make such a surrender. In this all 
Christians are precisely alike. They all came to 
this point of unlimited, unwavering confidence in 
God before they surrendered and became his chil- 
dren. But they differ in two particulars : 1. They 
vastly differ in their knowledge of their privi- 
leges. 2. They may equally differ in the con- 
stancy of their trusting themselves in the 
hands of God. The latter difference grows out 
of the former. While one man is a Christian 
steadily, day after day, trusting his all in God's 
hands incessantly, and enjoying incessantly the 
fulfillment of the promise, u Thou wilt keep him 
in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on thee, be- 
cause he trusteth in thee" (Isa. 26: 3), the other 
enjoys this peace to-day, because he trusts in God ; 
but to-morrow he is a condemned sinner, because 
he does not trust him, but falls into fear of the 
world, fear of losses of property, honor, or health, 
fear of want and misery, fears to do right against 
the opinions of men, fears to honor Jesus in the 
presence of scoffers. As a consequence, he takes 
his case and the management of his affairs into 
his own hands, runs on his own track, — or rather 
on Satan's track,— compromises with the world, 
and provokes God with his attitude of self-suffi- 
ciency and independence. Now he may cling to 
religious forms and profession with the utmost 



DOCTRINE OF DOUBLE-BIRTH PERFECTION. 389 

tenacity, persuading himself, by means of the 
blind theologians and Satan in concert, that he is 
a Christian. But God says, "The fear of man 
bringeth a snare; but whoso putteth his trust in 
the Lord shall be safe." (Pro v. 28: 25.) "Re 
that believeth not is condemned already/' (John 3: 
18.) "But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the 
abominable, and murderers, * * and sorcerers, 
and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in 
the lake which burnetii with fire and brimstone: 
which is the second death." (Rev. 21 : 8.) 

Thus we see that doubt and its consequent fear- 
fulness bring speedy condemnation to the soul. 
It dishonors God, and leads the soul into com- 
promise with Satan, so plunging it into impurity. 
By the blind world a "little doubting" is consid- 
ered a small thing; but with God it is seen in its 
destructive character. What the world calls doubt- 
ing is by the omniscient Eye seen to be distrust — 
not a disbelief in the faithfulness, goodness, or 
all-sufficiency of God, but an actual taking of 
their case out of his hands to conduct and control 
it themselves, and thus have their own way with 
it. This arises from their narrow view of the 
field of privilege, in part, in the first backward 
motion; from unwatchfulness against improper 
feelings, wishes, motives, affections, and thoughts; 
from Satan's sly and stealthy insinuations; from 



390 TWENTY-EIGHT OBJECTIONS AGAINST THE 

forgetfulness in the matter of prayer, and conse- 
quent walking alone instead of walking, in Enoch's 
style, with God; from neglect of duty, and con- 
sequent self-reproach ; from reluctance and conse- 
quent delay in the matter of frank and fall con- 
fession to God of guilt in these inadvertent neg- 
lects and wanderings. "Beloved, if our heart 
condemn us, God is greater than our heart, and 

knoweth all things" 

Whenever a man's heart (conscience) condemns 
him, it is because he did something contrary to 
conscience ; that is, something which he believed 
to be wrong. When he did that he indorsed 
wrong. Every one knows that he has no right 
to indorse wrong. Hence when he does it he does 
wrong. Therefore he is guilty. No soul resting 
in the guilt of unrepented wrong can approach 
God with the expectation of approving favor. To 
such, one of two things is inevitable: 1. A hum- 
ble, frank, full, penitent confession and earnest 
* pleading for mercy, or, 2. a resting in the attitude 
of rebellion, under condemnation. No matter 
how small the fault has been, one of these atti- 
tudes will follow. And the matter of confession 
without pleading excuse is the hardest thing 
for the soul to do. Nothing else is so repul- 
sive. Consequently many rest in the attitude 
of rebellion by simply postponing the bitter con- 



DOCTRINE OF DOUBLE-BIRTH PERFECTION. 391 

fession. Thus they justify the crime and commit 
it over and overand overagain,by simply refusing 
prompt, penitent confession. If I should tell a 
multitude that you have lied, and refuse to recall 
the vile slander, even though I have many oppor- 
tunities and earnest solicitations on your part, 
would my conduct not be equivalent to numerous 
repetitions of the slander? So the soul, having 
indulged but in thought and feeling the least 
wrong, and postponing humble confession before 
God, repeats continually the sin by refusing to 
recall it. It is the attitude of independence and of 
justifying the wrong. It is consenting to let the 
wrong continue unrecalled. This is a hearty in- 
dorsement of the wrong. With God all wrong 
soul-action, whether great or trivial, is condemned. 
Condemnation shuts the soul away from God in 
the cold region of self-reliance. In this region, 
this barren desert, this dreary waste, many who 
are called Christians {and are so occasionally) spend 
much of their precious time, and waste many of 
their precious opportunities for doing good. 
When they should be strong laborers and teach- 
ers they need feeding with milk to give them 
strength enough to commence doing their first 
works. Thus they waste their days mostly under 
mists and clouds of unbelief which arise out of 
the swamps of carelessness and other sins. They 



392 TWENTY-EIGHT OBJECTIONS AGAINST THE 

are most of the time engaged in quarrels with 
God, which they and their false teachers call "un- 
avoidable dark seasons." Once in awhile they 
come out do their whole duty, and make a full 
consecration of their all to God. He accepts the 
offering, fills them with his love, and they run 
well for a season. Then they vary from God's 
requirements on some point which seems to them 
too small to be of any consequence. The ready 
Satan comes in with his deceitful reasonings, and 
helps the wavering mind to believe it is too small 
a matter to require any attention, telling them, 
"It is all well enough for sanctified folks to be 
scrupulous and careful about small matters, but 
Christians of the lower order may do many things 
which are inconsistent with the higher life and 
still be Christians. They need not deny them- 
selves so rigidly. It is all well enough where one 
wants to be perfect; but sinless perfection is what 
very few, if any, ever attain to in this life." Thus 
they go down again, and drag along in lifeless 
forms. Multitudes of this class are annually sink- 
ing to rise no more. Others spend their days in 
the "up and down" career, do very little good in 
the world, but at last take fright from their deso- 
late condition and escape "so as by fire." 

The self-denials incidental to earnest, effective 
labor for Christ is the stumbling-stone to millions. 



DOCTRINE OF DOUBLE-BIRTH PERFECTION. 393 

"If any man will come after me, let him deny 
himself, and take up his cross daily." (Luke 9: 
23.) This deuying self of worldly pleasures to 
save time, strength, and means to work for the 
kingdom of God and immortal souls is what tries 
the faith of many. The theologians tell them 
they can be "in Christ and yet carnal." They in- 
dulge moderately; and this blinds their eyes and 
benumbs their moral sensibilities. Then greater 
indulgence seems like a very small thing, and self- 
denial seems useless. So they indulge more. The 
love of the world possesses their hearts. God is 
driven out. Their religion is crystallized into me- 
chanical forms. What they do now is only to 
quiet a very stupid conscience and keep up appear- 
ances. Opportunities to do good are not looked 
after, but shunned. Time, talent, money, rank, 
and position will all be employed to gratify their 
love of riches, honors, and pleasures. Only 
enough will be done for God and his cause to per- 
petuate the slumbers of a stupid conscience and 
their membership in church. 

Some theologians think this class simply need 
to make "fuller consecration to bring them into 
a better experience and a higher state of useful- 
ness." But, according to God's holy word, they 
need a first consecration to restore their "first love " 
They are not consecrated at all, except to them- 



394 TWENTY-EIGHT OBJECTIONS AGAINST THE 

selves, the world, and Satan. They are proud, 
petulant, and sensual, and catalogued by the the- 
ologians as "carnal Christians, full of the old man, 
the hidden abominations, pride, self-will, and heli, 
yet having the witness in themselves, 'Thou art an 
heir of God, a joint-heir with Christ." (Wesley.) 
The Bible says, "God resisteth the proud" They 
may approach God with their forms of prayer 
and utter beautiful words, which please the ears 
of the carnal; but God resists them, and spurns 
their petitions. However fine the style and ap- 
propriate the petitions, they are only the ebulli- 
tions of satanic pride, aud therefore abominable 
in the sight of God. 

The first effectual thing they cau do for the 
improvement of their faith is a deep, thorough, 
humble repentance. "How can ye believe, which 
receive honor one of another, and seek not the honor 
that comethfrom God only" (John 5: 44.) 

They who seek the praise of men can not at the 
game time, in the same attitude of soul, bow in 
humble submission to God, who positively forbids 
the love of the world, saying, "Love not the world, 
neither the things that are in the world. If any man 
love the world, the love of the Father is not in him" 
(I. John 2: 15.) Pride is a soul-state, the exact 
opposite of submission, aud therefore incompati- 
ble with it. Not only so; but it is direct rebellion, 



DOCTRINE OP DOUBLE-BIRTH PERFECTION. 395 

being direct disobedience to God's command. 
Therefore he who has this feeling of self-exalta- 
tion must be abased before he can approach God 
in the confidence that he will regard with com- 
placency. Bat "if our heart condemn us not, then 
have we confidence toward God. And whatsoever 
we ask, we receive of him, because we keep his 
commandments, and do those things that are 
pleasing in his sight." (I. John 3: 21.) 

The honest, conscientious soul who is really de- 
cided to do God's will in every particular, to 
glorify his name and labor for the advancement 
of his kingdom by the rescue of fellow-men from 
the kingdom of darkness, and who carefully and 
prayerfully studies his holy word, w T ill find no 
difficulty in the matter of faith, unless he suffer 
himself to be confused by certain blind theologians. 
One class of these may confuse him by setting 
him to praying for "the second work." Another 
may do so by setting him to praying for faith. 
Either of these will confuse him. The right way 
is to search God's word, be decided to do his will, 
and trust all in his hand, taking his promises at one 
hundred per cent. Believe him, commit all into 
his hand, and keep it committed. "Faith cometh by 
hearing, and hearing by the toord of God." (Rom. 
10: 17.) Study and obey God's word, and your 
faith will get along. 



396 twenty-eight objections against the 

3. Grow in strength. 

"They that wait on the Lord shall renew their 
strength" (Isa. 40: 31.) On the night of his be- 
trayal Jesus said to his disciples, "Now ye are 
clean" (John 15 : 3.) Then they were pure from 
all sin. But almost the last words he spoke to them 
before pronouncing his parting blessing were, 
" Tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem until ye be endued 
with power from on high" (Luke 24 : 49.) After a 
special, protracted tarrying before God for the 
space of ten days and ten nights, on the morning 
of the first day of the week, the inaugural day of 
the new dispensation was ushered in by the special 
baptism of power poured out upon about two 
hundred gentlemen and ladies, who were in con- 
stant prayer and expectant waiting for this re- 
markable fulfillment of the Lord's promise. (See 

Acts 2.) 

The baptism of power should be sought and 
experienced occasionally by every one. When 
heavy duties, fiery trials, or sore afflictions are 
before us, w r e should seek the baptism of power 
to prepare us for the emergency. But some have 
not the faith to believe that such things are for 
them. Others are too proud to wait in humble 
prayer and supplication. Some are too careless 
about the necessary preparation for effectual work 
for God. They live unto themselves. Paul com- 



DOCTRINE OF DOUBLE-BIRTH PERFECTION. 397 

mands them, "Covet earnestly the best gifts" No ; 
it is not Paul, but God Almighty by the hand of 
Paul, who utters this command. Yet many pro- 
fessing godliness are too busy coveting worldly 
goods, and struggling to get them, to spend any 
time on their knees coveting power to prepare 
them for effective labor. They hide their worldly- 
mindedness and religious carelessness under a cloak 

of modesty, saying, "I have no talents. I am too 
weak; I am too unworthy to enjoy such extraor* 
dinary blessings." Paul said, "lean do all things 
through Christ which strengthened rne" God's 
prophets and apostles were men of great power, 
and did many wonderful things ; but their power 
was all from God. They obtained it by simple 
faith; for they were, as James says of Elijah, 
"subject to like passions as we are." They were 
not a superior order of beings. The same simple, 
unwavering trust in God which brought the 
wonderful answers to their prayers will bring all 
that we need to honor God and advance his king- 
dom. The miracles which God wrought by them 
are not now necessary, since the revelation of 
God's will in words has been abundantly attested 
with "signs and wonders and divers miracles." 

Yet we have abundant access to the same inex- 
haustible almighty power by which those miracles 
were performed, and may draw supplies in precise 



398 TWENTY-EIGHT OBJECTIONS AGAINST THE 

ratio to our needs and the needs of God's cause 
when we make that cause fully ours in the sense 
of personal partnership ; when we are indeed 
"laborers together with God." 
x 4. Grow in watchfulness. j 

The young convert knows but little of the wiles 
of Satan, the power of wicked influences around 
him, or of his own weakness. There is no Sa- 
tanic enemy visible. The world seems friendly, — 
sometimes too friendly. His love is pure and 
strong. His purposes are strong. He is unaware 
that his mortal enemy never proposes to meet him 
in open field-fight with avowed hostility. He has 
learned that Satan's only means of destruction is 
deception of one kind or another. He has not 
learned the important truth which Satan so well 
understands after many long ages of study and 
practice in spiteful warfare against God and 
moral beauty; namely, that moral qualities can 
never be produced by physical force. 

\Henee he is unaware of the vast importance of 
those sacred words of caution: "Be vigilant" 
" What Isay unto you, Isay unto all, Watch" Sa- 
tan, with the voraciousness of a hungry lion, the 
vigilance and deceitfulness of a serpent, and sly- 
ness and agility of the panther, gives him the sad 
experiences which, in connection with the warn- 
ings of God's word and the quickenings of his 



DOCTRINE OF DOUBLE-BIRTH PERFECTION. 399 

Spirit, arouse him to greater watchfulness. As he 
sees more clearly the numerous points to be guard- 
ed, and Satan's purpose to follow him to the verge 
of the grave with his hellish intentions, he be- 
comes more seriously and deeply impressed with 
the importance of ceaseless vigilance. The im- 
portance of this can not be exaggerated. This 
becomes obvious when we consider carefully the 
numerous means in the power of Satan for the 
diversion of our attention, for enticement, and 
for direct deception. When we see men of great 
intellect, like Solomon after writing some of the 
wisest sayings, and growing aged in the service 
of God, yet at last "led captive by the devil at his 
will" and "drawn away of his lusts," under a 
thick cloud of deception in regard to the corrupt- 
ing and ruinous effects of sowing to the flesh, and 
drawn down to endless night with a heart full of 
lasciviousness and murder, we are admonished to 
"watch and pray, lest we enter into temptation" 
When we contemplate the fall of Adam from a 
state of primeval, sinless purity into the abyss of 
moral turpitude, and the utter absence of any ev- 
idence that he was ever recovered, we feel the 
force of that warning, "Let him that thinketh he 
standeth, take heed, lest he fall" The fall of holy 
angels admonishes us, "Beware." Thus the soul 
stows in the habit of watchfulness. 



400 TWENTY-EIGHT OBJECTIONS AGAINST THE 

5. Growth in the habit of prayer will be col- 
lateral and commensurate with that of watchful- 
ness, and for the same reasons. As a confiding 
little boy, who had inadvertently spilled a pail of 
milk and fallen into it, soiling his best costume, 
rushed into his loving father's arms, dripping with 
the milky fluid, soiling his father's best clothes 
also, poured out his petition of tears for sympathy 
and help, so the soul accustomed to leaning on 
the mighty arm of the Infinite rushes habitually 
to his bosom for pity and support, salvation and 
rest. The habit grows by practice. No sooner 
does he find himself fallen, than he calls to his 
merciful Father, confesses his inadvertency, pleads 
the merits of Jesus' blood, begs for pardon, and is 
restored. The time was when he would procras- 
tinate this humble, penitent return to his resting- 
place after Satan's misleadings; but he has learn- 
ed wisdom and improved his habits. 

6. Growth in the admiration of God's char- 
acter. 

God has created much that is lovely. But it is 
in no wise probable that he has ever created any- 
thing so lovely as himself. It is not probable that 
all the beauty and loveliness which he has created 
would, if summed up and concentrated in a re- 
splendant focus, compare with the glorious loveli- 
ness of the ineffable Father of lights. 



DOCTRINE OF DOUBLE-BIRTH PERFECTION, 401 

"Love sits in his eyelids 
And scatters delight 

Through all the bright mansions on high ; 
Their faces, the cherubim, vail in his sight, 
And tremble with fullness of joy." 



The heavens declare his glory; the firmament 
shows his skill; the earth proclaims his bounty; 
the seas re-echo the song; the cross declares his 
mercy; and angels the strains prolong. The 
birthday of the regenerate soul was a day of won- 
drous revelations in the realms of God's loveliness. 

And yet "eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither 
have entered into the heart of man the things which 
God hath prepared for them that love him" He has 
given a glimpse, a foretaste, "by his Spirit;" yet 
"now we see through a glass darkly ; but then face io 
face" 

As the soul grows in knowledge its apprehen- 
sion of the loveliness of God's all-glorious charac- 
ter is extended and widened by the increasing ap- 
prehension of innumerable evidences of his loveli- 
ness. As the wonders of the deep expand before 
the vision of the sailing mariner, so do the won- 
ders of Deity expand before the enraptured vision 
of the regenerate soul sailing in contemplation on 
the ocean of divinity. Thus its admiration of God 
increases, and probably will eternally, as it makes 
new discoveries of the obstruse wonders of the in- 

26 



'402 TWENTY-EIGHT OBJECTIONS AGAINST THE 

finite parent mind, as revealed in his works, word, 
and providence. 

7. Growth in firmness is also an item in the 
process of growing in grace. As the soul proceeds 
in the acquisition of knowledge, growing in the 
habit of watchfulness and of prayer, growing in 
its admiration of the character of God, and as the 
field of privilege expands before its faith, its habit 
of trusting in God grows stronger, and it increases 
in stability and firmness. The probabilities of his 
backsliding are diminished, and those of his per- 
severance are increased. That is to say, Satan is 
less and less able to deceive and insnare him, and 
consequently his perseverance is more assured, 
while also his example is more nearly even. He 
is more reliable and trustworthy as a Christian. 
His habit of repudiating the wrong and "approv- 
ing the things that are excellent" grows firmer. He 
becomes, in comparison with his infantile Chris- 
tianity, like the oak of a century's growth in com- 
v parison with its infantile years — not so flexible, 
but more elastic and stronger. 

8. Growth in usefulness is an inseparable con- 
sequence of the items of growth we have been 
considering. They make the man more efficient 
and more influential. Thus he becomes better 
prepared to win souls to Christ. This is the life- 
work of the Christian.' Many church-members 



DOCTRINE OF DOUBLE BIRTH PERFECTION. 403 

seem to think they live only to be carried along 
by others to the land of repose. . And they are 
often ready to complain of the roughness of the 
road and the hardness of the bed on which their 
patient friends are endeavoring to carry them. 
When they are once buried their neighbors will 
find no difficulty in forgetting the good works of 
their lives. The painful recollection of their pet- 
ulancy will greatly assist in the efforts of any who 
may be inclined to forget their achievements for 
God and his kingdom. "He that winneth souls 
is wise" "Then [at the judgment-day'] they that 
be wise shall shine as the brightness of the fir- 
mament, and they that turn many to righteous- 
ness, as the stars forever and ever" (Daniel.) One 
undoubted intention of the Infinite mind in the 
constitution of every moral being he has made, 
was, that it should reciprocate in usefulness with 
all others. "Man lives to know, to produce, and to 
reciprocate" God is a perpetual benefactor to all 
other beings who have not, by their own disorder- 
ly acts, placed themselves beyond the reach of his 
benefits. Some, it is true, have played the ma- 
niac, and necessitated the pitying Father of all to 
shut them away from the family in the special 
asylum which he prepared specially for his child 
Lucifer, who fell crazy and commenced abusing 
the family. All who indorse his course and con- 



404 TWENTY-EIGHT OBJECTIONS AGAINST THE 

tinue voluntarily, consciously, and persistently in 
his copartnership, will, of course, finally share 
with him in the possession of his special asylum. 
(See Matthew 25: 41.) 

Besides these God is a perpetual benefactor to 
alh; and all who are godly — godlike— have a dis- 
position and a will to engage with him in "doing 
good to all men." They consider the fact that all 
we can do in return for the innumerable and per- 
petual benefits we receive from his bountiful hand 
consists in these three items: 1. The love and 
praise of our hearts. 2. The praise of our lips. 
3. Efforts to induce others to love and praise him. 
They rejoice that he says, "Whoso offereth praise, 
glorifieth me" (Psalms.) It all merges into the 
one item — honor. We can honor him in our hearts 
with love. We can honor him with our lips, in 
utterance of praise to his name, and persuasions 
to induce others to love and praise him. We can 
honor him with our substance, employing it to 
^bring about the enlightenment and persuasion of 
others to love and praise him. 

The child of God loves his Father; and this 
moves him to labor for the promotion of his king- 
dom and glory. This brings him into vigorous 
action for the salvation of his fellow-men; for no 
one can love God without loving his fellow-men. 
God commands it, and his child obeys. God not 



DOCTRINE OF DOUBLE-BIRTH PERFECTION. 405 

only commands it, but to those who resolve on 
obedience and membership in his family, he gives 
the ability to obey, — or rather the state of obedience* 
— by filling their hearts with his person and na- 
ture, which is love. They love spontaneously God 
and their fellow-men. Now they are moved by his 
indwelling presence to "work out" what he works 
in them. They can only cease working externally 
for his glory in the salvation of men by resisting 
his inward promptings ; "for it is God that work- 
eth in them both to will and to do of his good pleas- 
ure" He never forces the will contrary to itself, 
but seeks to persfiade it. When it moves in har- 
mony with his persuasions or "workings," it in- 
variably "labors with him" for the salvation of 
men. "The love of Christ constraineth us" When 
love reigns, love constrains. When love can not 

O 7 

constrain to acts of love, then love no longer 
reigns, but Satan. Then the hands, time, talent, 
and means will be employed solely in the work of 
self-gratification. Moral death is now r the condi- 
tion of the soul. Yet it may drag along in relig- 
ious forms and professions. Dragging the soul 
through lifeless forms of religion is a favorite 
work with Satan. It deceives effectually. 
] He who attends to his own highest interests 
seeks the glory of God and the salvation of his 
fellow-men; for God has ordained that our own 



406 TWENTY-EIGHT OBJECTIONS AGAINST THE 

highest glory is inseparably connected with his 
glory and the good of our fellows. No power on 
earth, in heaven, or in hell, can ever break this 
eternal decree. Each one can sever his connection 
with this triune firm whose factors are, 1. God; 
2. I; 3. My neighbor. But none can disannul 
the eternal decree, that "True wisdom, moral pu- 
rity, AND ETERNAL BLISS ARE FOUND ONLY IN THIS TRI- 
UNE FIRM." 




BLISS. 



Some men do little or nothing to save their fel- 
low-man (because they have not the love of Christ 
to constrain them), and wonder why their formal 



DOCTRINE OF DOUBLE-BIRTH PERFECTION. 407 

religious performances give them no sweet peace 
at present, nor assurance of bliss in the future. It 
is a problem of easy solution. Those who are 
working themselves to death to save souls, are 
continually happy. So hath God decreed. "Love 
to God supremely, and love to man subordinately." 
(Thomas Dick.) 

9. Growth in the habit of restraining the 
physical appetites and governing them according 
to God's word and enlightened reason, is a very 
important item of growth in grace. "Be not effem- 
inate" A(Jd to your faith, your virtue, and your 
knowledge, the item of "temperance" Ungoverned 
appetites will soon enslave their possessor and lay 
him in the jaws of the destroyer. If sensuality 
caused the eternal ruin of the once wise and re- 
nowned King Solomon, ordinary men will stand 
a poor chance for escape from the slimy clutches 
of the voluptuous old Bacchus, if once he has 
gained a thorough gripe on them. The only safe 
way is in total abstinence from all unnecessary 
gratification of the physical appetites, and a rigid 
restraint within proper and healthful rules of tem- 
perance in the necessary gratifications. 

Some men eat and drink to live, labor, win 
souls to Christ and honor God; while others live 
to eat and drink and laugh and grow fat in self- 
gratification. " Their eyes stand out with fatness" 



408 TWENTY-EIGHT OBJECTIONS AGAINST THE 

" Their God is their belly" " They that will be rich, 
fall into temptation, and a snare, and many foolish 
and hurtful lusts, which droivn men in destruction 
and perdition" (Paul.) 

"But God said to him, Thou fool, this night thy 
soul shall be required of thee; * * so is ev- 
ery one that layeth up treasure for himself, and is 
not rich toward God. (Jesus.) He who under- 
takes to run a firm by himself, for his own gratifi- 
cation, in the pursuit and enjoyment of riches, 
honors, or pleasures, will find himself at last a /bo J, 
and smite himself for having undertaken to set 
aside the eternal decree of the Almighty, which 
forever precludes the possibility of true bliss to the 
soul which is not in the love of God. "Delight 
thyself in the Lord; and he shall give thee the desire 
of thine heart" All hearts desire happiness. God 
made us so, and provided for our gratification, 
but not apart from himself— not on an indepen- 
dent line. He proposes to give the bliss and take 
the glory. This is right; and he will never vary 
from right. A constant recognition of and prac- 
tice according to this rule will insure strength, 
usefulness, and bliss in time and in eternity. 

10. Growth in amiability — gracefulness — 
will be an effect of growth in the several particu- 
lars we have now noticed. He who grows in the 
items mentioned will surely become a more lovely 



DOCTRINE OF DOUBLE-BIRTH PERFECTION. 409 

and beloved Christian. The pure in heart are not 
all alike amiable and graceful, as they are not all 
alike talented and useful. Jesus loved all his dis- 
ciples, and yet one was called "the disciple ivhom 
Jesus loved" Enoch and Elijah were favored with 
a deathless transit to their heavenly home. Paul 
was honored with a view of the heavenly paradise, 
the home of the Christian, the land of rest and 
glories untold. John, on the lonely isle, had the 
honor of sketching many heavenly scenes. 

Through him God announced the premium on 
faithful endurance — a resurrection of the martyrs 
one thousand years before the general resurrec- 
tion. (See Rev. 20 : 4.) 

By self-denial and close application the pure in 
heart become wiser, stronger, more graceful and 
useful, and consequently better fitted for impor- 
tant places of trust in the kingdom of God. By 
long self-denial, a constant walk with God, and a 
careful study of his character, his ways, and the 
things pertaining to his kingdom, Enoch stood 
long as a bright, burning light in a dark world, 
and became ripe for the honor of a deathless 
transit to the land of light. The same is true of 
Elijah. Noah, Abraham, Moses, Daniel, John, 
Paul, and the other martyrs reached high honors 
by similar means. "Go ye also into the vineyard; 



410 TWENTY-EIGHT OBJECTIONS AGAINST THE 

and whatsoever is right, that shall ye receive" 
(Matt. 20 : 7.) 

So says the Proprietor of the vineyard. When 
it is right to feed you by ravens, to send fire and 
consume your offering in presence of your ene- 
mies, or to give you a transit to the land beyond 
the clouds in a chariot of fire ; when it is right to 
send an angel to shut the lions' mouths in the den 
where enemies have thrown you, or to suspend 
the laws of combustion in the heated furnace, 
when it is right to shake the stocks from your 
limbs and open the prison doors ; when it is right 
to give you a vision of the tree, the fruit, the 
river, the sea of glass, and the harpers in the para- 
dise of heaven ; when it is right to "chasten by 
scourging," when it is right to "make your enemies 
to be at peace with you" or to let them loose on you 
for a season ; when it is right to send the eternal 
Spirit and break the hearts of sinners in answer 
to your prayer, — seeing it comes from a humble, 
-bleeding heart, and a soul that labors in self-de- 
nial for the glory of God, — and thus prepare 
sheaves for your gathering in the great harvest- 
day, and stars for your crown of glory ; "whatso- 
ever is right, that shall ye receive" If it be right to 
record by your name on the roll of God's nobility, 
"Ten souls won to the love of God through self- 
denying labors and sacrifices ," or if it be right to 



DOCTRINE OF DOUBLE-BIRTH PERFECTION. 411 

record "fifty," or "one hundred/' or "one thou- 
sand," or "ten thousand," "whatsoever is right" 
shall the angel record. And there shall the rec- 
ord stand for eternal inspection by the glorified 
millions. "They that turn many to righteousness 
shall shine as the stars forever and ever" 



H CONCLUDING +CHSPTER.h 



¥ORDS OF RMKE TO YOUNG CHRISTIANS. 



Here we should have a 29th OBJECTION,— 
On the Perversion of Bible Terms. But our 
limits will not permit. Some good hand will at 
no distant day elaborate on the perversion of Bi- 
ble terms caused by the double-birth doctrine 
in the use of the expressions, "Full salvation; 
entire sanctification; complete holiness; fully 
saved," &c. The Bible tells us about salvation, 
great salvation, eternal salvation, but never a word 
about half salvation, partial salvation, nor full sal- 
vation. It speaks of sanctification, but never of 
half, or partial, or entire sanctification. It speaks 
of holiness, but never of partial, imperfect, incom- 
plete, complete, entire, or perfect holiness. It 
speaks of men being saved, but never of their be- 
ing half, partially, or entirely saved. Simply saved. 
Saved, in Bible style, means saved. No one can 
be said to be saved when he is partially saved 
half washed, or partly sanctified. The word al- 

413 



414 WORDS OF ADVICE 

ways speaks of God's work as a thing complete. 
"Whoso putteth his trust [not half trust] in the 
Lord shall be safe." Not half safe, but simply 
safe. We should not talk about "full salvation," 
as if there were a half salvation, but salvation. 

I. Keep all on the altar. 

1. You became a Christian by a full and com- 
plete consecration of yourself, and consequently 
of all you possessed, to God. No man ever be- 
came a Christian any other way. As we have re- 
peatedly noticed, it is not denied by the "second- 
work" theologians that a man must make a full 
surrender and consecration of himself to God in 
order to obtain pardon, though they hold that a 
man may consecrate himself without consecrating 
all his possessions. This is a grave blunder. A 
man's self is the most valuable possession he has. 
Kay, it is more so to him than all else. If you 
could own your neighbor, you would own what- 
ever is called his. So then it is obvious that a 
% man can not consecrate himself to God without at 
the same time consecrating all his possessions. 

Then God is recognized— as he in reality always 
is— the proprietor of all, and the soul enters his 
firm as a factor. 

2. Yet it is not probable that you enumerated 
all the items in your wholesale consecration. Your 
mind or heart was precisely in the same state, how- 



TO YOUNG CHRISTIANS. 415 

ever, as if you had reckoned every item, and God 
so accepted it; for "the Lord looketh on the heart." 
And he ,says, "Ye shall find me when ye shall 
search for me with all your heart." (Part will 
not do.) 

3. In the same manner "as you have received the 
Lord Jesus, so walk in him" Satan will tempt you 
to take back some of the items included in your 
unreserved consecration. The least yielding in 
such a case will separate your heart from God. 
Then God will be out. 

If Satan succeeds in -the least item it will be by 
inducing in your heart a love for the item with- 
drawn from the altar. This will be love of the 
w T orld, and so an act of disobedience to the holy 
command which says, "Love not the world, neither 
the things that are in the world. If any man love 
the world, the love of the Father is not in him" (I. 
John 2: 15.) Loving the world does not neces- 
sarily include the attachment of the heart to every 
individual thing in the world, any more than the 
consecration of a farm to God supposes the spe- 
cific enumeration of every tree, shrub, rail, stone, 
quadruped, and fowl on its surface, and every 
piece of oar and stone beneath. Whenever the 
affection is set on a solitary item of worldly 
matter or possession,— riches, honors, and pleas- 
ures include all, — then the love of the world is in 



416 WORDS OF ADVICE 

the heart, and "the love of the Father is not in" 
This is just what has morally killed millions of 
. church-members, whom Satan is dragging in his 
net like so many insnared fishes, to the burning 
shore of eternal perdition. 

This taking back items from the altar and ap- 
propriating them to their own exclusive use, is 
preparing multitudes for a "second work," or "the 
second death/' 

Keep all on the altar of your God. Watch away 
the birds as Abraham did (Gen. 15: 11); or the 
old, black bird of Gehenna will carry away the 
sacrifice, and w T ith it your soul. 

II. Guard well the heart against the love of 
the world ; that is, riches, honors, and pleasures. 

1. If you owned the globe you could have 
riches, honors, and pleasures, and no more. "The 
love of money [which represents all earthly pos- 
sessions] is the root of all evil." This kind of love 
is a root which will grow any or all other evils, if 
^ permitted to grow. Money is a necessity; but the 
love of it is the root of all evil. It is a soul-condi- 
tion which is the opposite of the love of God. It 
is idolatry, which God hates. 

Yet it is a root that grows very rapidly in the 
heart, and entirely unperceived by those who are 
not watchful and prayerful. As the insignificant 
thorn, a mere twig which could easily be removed 



TO YOUNG CHRISTIANS. 417 

by the thumb and finger from your rich garden- 
bed, silently thrusts its roots deep into the earth, 
and rapidly becomes a well-established tree, re- 
quiring a stout team for its removal, so the silent 
roots of worldly love thrust themselves deeply and 
rapidly unperceived into the fertile soil of the 
heart, and will cost bitter tears, and require the 
power of Omnipotence to remove them. If left to 
grow they will ruin the soul in endless night. 

2. Satan can lead the soul astray only by means 
of desire. Hence James says, "Every man is 
tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and 
enticed:' (J as. 1 : 14.) Only by the enticements of 
riches, honors, or pleasures, enforced by the decep- 
tive powers of the great deceiver, applied in one 
way or another, can the soul be led away from 
Christ and moral purity. So it occurred in Eden. 
So it occurs to-day. Satan induced the first trans- 
gression in our race by deceptive enticement. 
" Ye shall not surely die" was the first falsehood ut- 
tered on our planet. It deceived our parents, and 
in connection with the impression which was 
made on the eye by the forbidden object, together 
with the true statement that God knew they 
would make a new discovery in the first moment 
of guilt, — a discovery of the contrast between good 
and evil, innocence and guilt, purity and corrup- 
tion, — it led them into sin and moral death — the 

27 



418 WORDS OF ADVICE 

loss of the life of God from the soul — the moral 
night Irom which none can prove they ever 
emerged. - 

3. "The deceitfulness of riches" can only be 
transcended by the deceitfulness of the father of 
falsehood. The heart can never be too well nor 
too constantly guarded against it. The answer 
to the question, "Will I be saved?" will be given 
when the answer to the question, "Will I love God 
instead of the world?" is given. "How hardly 
shall a rich man enter into the kingdom of heaven." 

4. Do not trust in any earthly thing. Sure as 
the heart trusts in any object for safety or bliss, 
so sure will it love that object ; for "where the treas- 
ure is, there will the heart be also" Truer philoso- 
phy never was uttered. A man's treasure is any- 
thing he trusts in for safety or happiness. We 
can not avoid loving our treasure. 

5. Our only safety lies in perpetual, unreserved 
trust in God. To induce this in all moral beings 
is the central design of Deity throughout the 
realms of nature and revelation. Do so, and live 
eternally in bliss ineffable. 

III. Seek perpetual delights from God. 

1. This will keep the heart from the love of 
the world. God made the soul for pleasures, and 
pleasures for the soul. "Thou wilt make them to 
drink of the river of thy pleasures." (Psalms.) 



TO YOUNG CHRISTIANS. 419 

"Delight thyself in the Lord, and he shall give thee- 
the desires of thine heart." (Ps. 37.) "Ask, and ye 
shall receive, that your joy may be full." "Rejoice 
in the Lord evermore; and again, I say, Rejoice" 
(Paul.) "The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace" 
&c. Whatever is a fruit of the Spirit is surely a 
part of the Christian religion. Some tell us that 
feeling is no part of the Christian religion; but 
the quotations above show the fallacy of such state- 
ments. Joy is a fruit of the Spirit; and joy con- 
sists wholly in emotions of pleasure. Joy is noth- 
ing but feeling. 

2. Let the Spirit continually bring joy to thy 
heart, 1. by his direct flashes of quickening, thrill- 
ing, invigorating power; 2. by leading thy soul 
, in sweet meditations on his work, his word, his 
providence, his "great salvation," thy happy home 
in heaven; 3. by quickening thy thoughts, thy 
memory, thy judgment, thy reasoning powers, 
while engaged in laboring for his glory in the 
salvation of souls. Never allow a day to pass 
and the slumbers of night to close in upon thee 
without the Spirit's sweet tokens of love. Thy 
soul needs it. Thy God designed it, and wills it, 
and will bestow it when thy soul assumes the re- 
quired attitude before him. In any other attitude 
it is in danger of eternal ruin. "God is light, 
and in him is no darkness at all." Therefore, 



420 WORDS OF ADVICE 

when he possesses and reigns in the soul, light 
and joy reign there. When, therefore, thy soul 
is in darkness and gloom, know assuredly thou 
art not justified before God, not being in the prop- 
er attitude for him to reign in thy heart. Thy 
gloom has arisen from want of trustfulness in the 
hand of thy God. And "he that believeth not is 
condemned already." Distrust dishonors God, 
and therefore brings his disapprobation, his con- 
demnation. 

3. Make no arrangement nor room for "dark 
seasons." Rule them out entirely. Give no heed 
to the counsels of those stupid, unspiritual teach- 
ers who tell you, "We must, or at least will have 
our dark seasons." If you decide that the dark 
seasons must be endured, it will throw your 
mind — perhaps unconsciously — into such a doubt- 
ful attitude that you will drive God out, and so 
actually bring the thing which your stupid prophet 
predicted, just as the lady committed suicide be- 
cause a lying fortune-teller predicted for her that 
she would do so. This is not a fictitious statement. 

When clouds come flitting over your spiritual 
sky, just frankly tell your God that by your un- 
watchfitlness you have thrown yourself into a 
wrong attitude of soul, in which you have no right 
to be, and ask him just now to help you out; and 
do not cease the struggle till his sunlight beams 



TO YOUNG CHRISTIANS. 421 

sweetly into your soul. Depend on it, this is his 
will. Hear once more the voice of his prophet on 
this point; hear and believe: "Thou wilt keep 
him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: 
because he trusteth in thee " (Isa. 26: 3.) Mark 
carefully, "Because he trusteth in thee." Here is 
God's because for special help to the soul. Not 
riches, honors, pleasures, learning, position, an- 
cestry, nor religious forms or ceremonies; but the 
soul's act and attitude of trust in God brings God 
into the soul with his "kingdom of righteousness, 
and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost" (Rom. 
14: 17.) Here we see indisputably that an essen- 
tial element of the kingdom of God in the soul 
on earth, as well as in heaven above, is joy. 

4. And we do well, for our own safety and 
usefulness, to remember and never forget that the 
joy is not the joy of mirth, frivolity, voluptuous- 
ness, or gayety. It is not such joy as the people 
had in the days of calf-worship, when "they sat 
down to eat and drink, and rose up to play." It 
is not the joy of the theater, the dance, or the 
play. It is "joy in the Holy Ghost" It is "the 
peace of God which passeth all understanding" It 
is the same kind of joy that fills the bosom of the 
infinite Father. "These things have I spoken unto 
you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your 
joy might be full" 



422 WORDS OF ADVICE 

5. Many who profess to be the children of God 
run after the things in which the wicked find their 
joy. This greatly dishonors God. It says to the 
unconverted, "There is not a sufficiency of joy in 
the religion of Jesus Christ; therefore I come to 
the fountains from which the wicked drink." 
This is a great, dark slander on Jesus. * It says 
his salvation is defective. This is not true. These 
representatives misrepresent. Therefore they are 
not representatives. They are slanderers of Je- 
sus. Their course says Jesus lies when he says, 
"Ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be 
full." (John 16: 24.) Of course, they implicate 
his servant John in the same crime; for he said, 
"These things write we unto you, that your joy 
might befall" (I. John 1 : 4.) And John recrim- 
inates them, saying, "God is light, and in him is 
no darkness at all If we say that we have fellow- 
ship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do 
not the truths (I. John 1 : 5, 6.) Thus there is a 
fearful war between those professors of godliness 
w r ho, bv word or action, teach that the Christian 
system is defective in the item of joy, and Jesus 
and his inspired writers. Satan never takes sides 
with Jesus. He is on their side; therefore they 
are on his side, and working for and with him. 
This is clearly manifested by the fact that they 
take pleasure in the same things that give pleas- 



TO YOUNG CHRISTIANS. 423 

ure to Satan's most devoted children. This shows 
that they have the same kind of taste. They are 
therefore of the same spirit. It is easy to "try the 
spirits" When we see men delighting in the 
same things which give pleasure to the soul of the 
rebel against God, we must conclude that the two 
souls have the same moral taste, and are therefore 
in the same moral condition. It can not be other- 
wise. It is a matter of the utmost importance to 
know what manner of spirit we are of. And it is 
easy to do so with God's word in our hand and 
honesty in our heart. Some religionists give full 
indorsement to the Bible idea that it is God's 
plan that Christians should be joyful. "Oh, yes," 
they say, "Christians should be joyful;" and away 
they go into the scenes, associations, and appli- 
ances to which the wicked resort for joy. The 
wicked sometimes hire these blind guides to assist 
in the indorsement of things too tough for their 
own hard consciences. They pay well to have 
such items christened. Precious soul, let thy joy 
ever be that which constitutes an essential ele- 
ment of the kingdom of God— the "joy of the 
Holy Ghost." 

6. Be exceedingly careful never to seek joy as 
an end — merely to have pleasure. Seek perpet- 
ually as your highest aim to glorify God. Col- 
lateral with this aim let your aim be to keep a 



424 WORDS OF ADVICE 

pure heart. " The wisdom that corneth from above 
is first pure." Seek as the only means of purity 
the indwelling Holy Spirit. When he dwells 
within your joy is secure. Take its absence as 
an evidence of the absence of the Spirit, and its 
presence as an evidence of his presence. But 
never set up a standard for the Spirit to work by 
in the degree of your joys, either high or low. 
Here Satan may deceive you, and run you into 
selfishness. Let this be your standard, "His de- 
light is in the law of the Lord, and in his law doth 
he meditate day and night. * * Whatsoever he doeth 
shall prosper." (Ps. 1.) Whenever the Spirit en- 
ables you to take delight in every item and feature 
of God's law you are safe, and may praise him as 
your Savior. Resting thus, with a heart full of 
praises, and lips willing to utter them aloud, you 
may leave the higher ecstacies to his sovereign 
pleasure, being careful not to quench them and 
him by proud silence when he prompts you to de- 
clare his presence, his love, his peace, his joy, and 
his glory. 

IV. Constantly regard God as a present, per- 
sonal ASSOCIATE. 

1. Science, as well as revelation, declares that 
"in God we live and move and have our being." 



TO YOUNG CHRISTIANS. 425 

2. But the sinner's guilt makes God's presence 
disagreeable to his conscience. Therefore his 
imagination struggles continually to place God at 
a vast distance, and to make him oblivious to the 
soul's moral condition. Thus he ostracises the 
lovely One who made, sustains, environs, and con- 
tinually yearns over him with pity. They have 
no fellowship, though continually in the closest 
proximity. 

3. The highest privilege ever enjoyed by a 
creature is personal fellowship, personal asso- 
CIATION with God. 

4. This inexpressibly glorious privilege is con- 
stantly enjoyed by the Christian. When he ceases 
to enjoy it, he ceases to be a Christian. "God is 
light. * * If we walk in the light, * * we have fel- 
lowship one with another." If we are not in him 
we are not Christians. If we are in him we have 
fellowship with him. "Abide in me, and I in you" 
"1 will come in to him and sup with him, and he with 
me." We will feast together. This is intimate 
and exalting association for the soul. 

5. There is no safety except in the most fa- 
miliar (not frivolous) and intimate association with 
God. The soul must and will find society in 
something. Whatever it chooses for the gratifi- 
cation of its social nature will have a high place 
in its affections. If it be not God, it will be some 



426 WORDS OF ADVICE 

other object. Then the heart will be in the idol- 
atrous state. 

6. Converse with God as an intimate, affec- 
tionate, all-sufficient friend, close by your side; 
yea, within your breast, and not away beyond the 
farthest planet. 

"Speak to him, thou ; for he hears ; 
And spirit with spirit may meet. 
Closer is he than breathing, 
And near than hands and feet." 

"He that toucheth you, toucheth the apple of his 

Let him be thy associate and partner in 1. 
pleasures; 2. in pain; 3. in toil; 4. in care; 5. in 
possessions; 6. in honors; 7. in reproaches; 8. in 
conversation. Walk with him as Enoch did ; and 
he declares, "I will divell in them, and walk in 
them" 

V. "Bring into captivity every thought to the 

OBEDIENCE OF CHRIST." (II. Cor. 10: 5.) 

1. "For the Lord, understand eth even the imag- 
inations of the thoughts" 

2. Thought is the root of all action. Thought 
originated and sustains the universe. The char- 
acter of a man's thoughts decides the character of 
the man. "As a man thinketh, so is he." Moral 
qualities do not reside in physical substances nor 



* TO YOUNG CHRISTIANS. 427 

in mechanical actions, but in thought, which orig- 
inated physical substance, and in soul, which pro- 
duces mechanical action. 

3. Therefore the regulation of our thoughts 
according to God's word is a matter of the first 
importance. It is absolutely essential to Christian 
character. "For from within, out of the heart of 
men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornica- 
tions, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, 
deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, 
pride, foolishness : all these evil things come from 
within, and defile the man." (Mark 7 : 21-23.) 

4. The thoughts which are induced by an un- 
avoidable sight or sound, thrust suddenly upon 
our attention, do not necessarily produce guilt. 
But so soon as a wrong thought is indulged in 
the way of desire, or affection, or temper, going 
out after forbidden objects, it becomes sin, and 
not only brings guilt, but also corruption. It is 
the soul's act of sowing to the flesh ; and a crop 
of corruption is inevitable. "Tie not deceived; God 
is not mocked : for whatsoever a man soweth, that 
shall he also reap. For he that soweth to his flesh 
shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth 
to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting." 
(Gal. 6: 7, 8.) God has established a law in the 
constitution of the moral being that every im- 
proper act of the soul produces corruption, — self- 



• 



428 WORDS OF ADVICE 

corruption, — a polluted state. A contrary soul- 
action, reaching out after God, in his specified 
way, by the blood of Christ, insures, his speedy 
help in the impartatiou of "life everlasting." 

5. "Keep thy heart with all diligence ; for out of 
it are the issues of life" But remember, thou canst 
keep it only by trusting it over into the personal 
hand of God. " Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, 
whose mind is stayed on thee : because he trusteth in 
thee." (Isa. 26: 3.) When thou findest thy 
thoughts beyond thy control thou hast, by care- 
lessness, left them — thy mind — in Satan's hand. 
Be alarmed, plead guilty, reach vehemently after 
God, call earnestly for help, and do nothing else till 
he comes. "Tarry till thou be endued with power." 
Do not tell God to hurry up, so that you may go 
on about something else more agreeably with your 
feelings ; yet pray him to hasten to your rescue, 
for Jesus' sake. And with this plea on your tongue, 
panting for the living God as the hart pantethfor 
k the water-brook, wait on the Lord till he please 
to come and renew thy strength. Do not under- 
take alone to rid thy soul of the least wrong 
thought, passion, affection, or desire, but in God's 
strength struggle agaiust the least or the greatest 
till it be thrust entirely from thy heart. Then 
cling to and commune with your deliverer for the 
pleasure of it, and employ your strength of soul 



TO YOUNG CHRISTIANS. 



429 



and body not hi play.* but in ceaseless study and 
labor for his glory. Whenever labor and sacri- 
fice for him are not pleasurable, thy soul is in a 
wrong condition. Whenever thou art shy about 
communing! with him, it is the same. Plead 
guilty, ask /or mercy, "delight thyself in the Lord, 
and he shall give, thee the desires of thine heart ;" 
that is, pleasure. (See Ps. 37 : 4.) 

6. Never undertake to explain your thoughts, 
feelings, affections,, or motives to God — for you 
never on earth or in heaven will be able to under- 
stand yourself as well as God does; but assume 
that he sees the whole situation and condition of 
your soul in every rninutia, and ask him to heal 
and straighten whatever is lame and crooked, and 
to wash away its defilement, just as a child calls 
for help from that parent who sees it fall into the 
slough and soil its snow-white garments. "If we 
confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our 
sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." 

VI. "Have always a conscience void of offense 
toward God and toward men." (Acts 24: 16.) 



1. Conscience is that power of the soul by 
which it approves itself for having done or pur- 
posed what the judgment declares to be right, and 
by which it condemns itself for having done or 



430 WffRDS OF ADVICE 

purposed what the judgment declares to be 
wrong. 

2. When our choices or decisions are in favor 
of what our judgment condemns, we violate con- 
science, commit an offense against it; and it will 
ever after accuse us for the offense till the wrong 
be corrected and the soul-stain be washed away. 

3. The Bible is the only proper guide to our 
judgment in moral qualities. This is because it 
is God's book; and conscience always recognizes 
a God and a retribution. Hence arise, the fearful 
ravings and loud accusations of conscience in the 
guilty soul under the apprehension of a speedy 
meeting with God. 

When young H., in Williams County, Ohio, 
was thrown into the air, in expectation of sudden 
death before he reachgd the ground the deeds of 
his whole life rushed in review before his guilty 

soul. 

When a young profligate, fallen from fine cir- 
cumstances, was in a fit of delirium tremens, in 
Henry County, Ohio, there seemed to him to be 
three stout men close at hand seeking his life, and 
a fourth standing quietly by his side, constantly 
repeating the accusation, "You knew better than 
to do as you did; you knew better than to drink; 
you knew it would hurt you ; you knew it was 
wrong; you knew better," &c. Whether in heaven, 



TO YOUNG CHRISTIANS. 431 

in hell, or in empty space beyond the limits of crea- 
tion, this man's conscience will accuse him eternally, 
unless the stains of sin be washed away by the 
blood of the Lamb. Without this only remedy, 
" the dreary regions of remorse" must be his eter- 
nal abode, whatever name may be given to his 
locality. O land of remorse! Dreary waste of 
moral darkness ! Desert land of the scorpion sting! 
Saharah of wrecked souls! State of tremendous 
terrors! Garden of the blasted rose! State of eter- 
nal suicide! Light eternal, shine on our pathway, 
and save us from the fearful doom. 

4. Never do an act of doubtful propriety. "He 
that doubteth is damned if he eat, because he eateth 
not of faith: for whatsoever is not of faith is sin." 
Whatever act is done without the full faith that it is 
right involves the soul's consent to wrong. Every 
rational soul knows it has no right to give the 
slightest indorsement to wrong. Therefore it can 
never approve itself in the attitude of such in- 
dorsement. Hence it can never rest in the sweet 
peace of self- approbation after having decided in 
favor of anything without being fully convinced 
that it is right, until the guilt be washed away by 
the blood of the Lamb. Nor can it enjoy the ap- 
proving smiles of God ; for "if our heart condemn 
us, God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all 
things" lie who constituted our soul with the 



432 WORDS OF ADVICE 

element of conscience in it has a higher authority 
and a keener perception than our conscience. He 
is not prejudiced for nor against us, as we are lia- 
ble to be. If, then, with our self-love — not to say 
partiality — we condemn ourselves, it is surely on 
account of something in us which justice can not 
approve, and which must therefore meet the con- 
demnation of a just God. Therefore, there is no 
peace to the unholy, in time or eternity, whether 
they are located in earth, heaven, hell, or the track- 
less void beyond the universe-. "No peace, saith 
God, to the wicked" (Isa. 57: 21.) " 

5. Conscience is not a "creature of education ;" 
for education never created it. But it is subject 
to the guidance of education, though God is its 
creator, as he is the creator of the soul in which 
it coinheres and the body in which both reside, 
The soul is to a great extent its own educator with 
the appliances at hand, as it is always at liberty 
to make its own selection of ideas and judge for 

v itself of their consistency and the harmony of 
principles. 

6. The soul may become so enamored with the 
god of this world, and blinded by false doctrine, 
that conscience ceases for the time being to smite 
the soul, even in great crimes. This point is reach- 
ed by gradual processes of wrong indulgences. 
The soul first slowly, gradually slides into self- 



TO YOUNG CHRISTIANS. 433 

approval in slight self-indulgences. "One com- 
pliance prepares it for another." After a length 
of time in increasing indulgence "they have their 
conscience seared with a hot iron" (I. Tim. 4: 2), 
and are prepared to blend religious forms and 
professions and God's holy word with frivolity, 
levity, and even with lasciviousness and blas- 
phemy. Satan is always a very helpful, interested 
party in all such processes. 

7. Honest, careful study of God's word, a 
fixed purpose always to do right and never wrong, 
constant self-denial pursuant to this purpose, and 
constant trust in God, will secure a "conscience 
void of offense toward God and men." But there 
is no other way to secure this greatest of treas- 
ures. 

8. Mistakes are possible with all finite beings ; 
but crime and guilt are impossible to the soul that 
has a fixed purpose to do right, right only, right 
continually, and "the love of God shed abroad in 
the heart by the Holy Ghost given unto it." (See 
Rom. 5 : 5.) "He can not sin because he is born 
of God." (I. John 3: 9.) He trusts in God. God 
bears him above Satan and sin. In this condition 
he can not sin, though he may make mistakes, and 
even do things which will blunt and stupefy his 
soul-powers, his moral sensibilities, becloud his 
moral vision, lead him after a time into doubtings, 

28 



434 WORDS OF ADVICE 

slacken his fervor in God's service, and so loose his 
hold on the only Rock of safety. Then he inev- 
itably falls. Now he may cry to God in bitter 
tears, and be lifted out of the pit again. But he 
can not again consciously take the same danger- 
ous path without incurring guilt at the first step; 
for the soul can not for one moment innocently 
pursue a path in which there appears the least 
evidence of danger to its purity. 

God and conscience always agree in the moni- 
tory command, "Abstain from all appearance of 
evil" Hence every step in the path where the 
soul sees evidence of danger to its perfect purity 
is a crime. The great destroyer has ruined mill- 
ions with the Morphean phrase, "Not much harm," 
and is ruining millions more. "Not much harm" is 
often his last sugar-coated pill of deadly poison. 
Take it, unwary soul, and die, or reject it and 
live; but never hope to take it and the joy of the 
Holy Ghost together. It can never be done. 

VII. "Pray without ceasing." (I. Thess. 5 : 13.) 

I. God is acquainted with all. 

1. Our thoughts. 2. Our feelings. 3. Our de- 
sires. 4. Our wishes. 5. Our motives. 6. Our 
affections. 7. Our intentions. 8. Our volitions. 



TO YOUNG CHRISTIANS. 435 

9. Our imaginings. 10. Oar reasonings. 11. Our 
joys. 12. Our sorrows. 

II. God knows all our needs. 

lc Our physical needs — food drink, clothing, 
light, heat, air, &c. 2. Our intellectual needs — 
perception, imagination, reasoning power, judg- 
ment, &c. 3. Our moral and spiritual needs — 
purity, sensibility, power, love, joy, peace, pa- 
tience, tender-heartedness, hope, courage, &c. 

III. God is good. 

1. Godness is an element in his nature; he is 
essentially good. He is therefore disposed to do 
good to all his creatures so long as it is right to 
do so. 

2. He delights in the happiness of all his 
creatures; and, being perfectly independent and 
proprietor of all things, and therefore never in 
need of favors from any other being, he can never 
be bribed to do wrong. 

3. We are his children, and hold him by the 
tie of parental affection. "Like as a father pitieth 
his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear him" 
(Ps. 103: 13.) 

4. He loves to be loved and honored and 
praised, and therefore delights in doing us good, 



436 WORDS OF ADVICE 

to inspire in us gratitude, love, and praise to him. 
Thus our interests interlock with his. He man- 
ifests his loveliness to inspire love, gratitude, and 
praise. "He inhabits praises." (Ps. 22: 3.) 

5. He has promised, on certain conditions, to 
supply all our needs. 

IV. All these considerations constitute an am- 
ple foundation for the faith that, on compliance 
with the stipulated conditions, he will fully sup- 
ply all our needs. 

V. Why should we pray? 

The question naturally arises, Why should we 
pray if God is infinite in power, wisdom, and 
goodness? 

We should pray to honor God. The highest 
motive that can ever actuate any created being in 
any world is perpetually required of us. "'Wheth- 
er therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsover ye do, do 
all to the glory of God." (I. Cor. 10; 81.) 

1. When we pray we honor God by an act of 
obedience. He commands it. All disobedience 
dishonors God by the attitude of defiant inde- 
pendence. 

2. Prayer honors God by an expressed acknowl- 
edgment of our dependence upon him. 

3. It honors God by expressing confidence in 



TO YOUNG CHRISTIANS. 437 

him. This inspires confidence toward him in the 
minds of those who hear us pray. For this rea- 
son all parents should often pray in the hearing 
of their children. The prayer-meeting is a pow- 
erful war against infidelity. 

4. We should pray for the same reason that 
we breathe — to live. We breathe to live tempo- 
rally. And as the branch can not draw nourish- 
ishment and life from the vine without a contin- 
ued unifying contact and connection with the 
parent vine, nor the body continue in life without 
continued contact with and invigoration from 
the atmosphere, so the soul can not continue in 
the holy life without continual unifying contact 
and connection with God.- The connection of the 
branch with the vine and the motion of the lungs 
in breathing are instinctive and involuntary; but 
the souPs connection w T ith God can only be vol- 
untary. Yet the habit of the soul in its constant 
clinging to and communing with God may be- 
come so strong that its out-reachings after him 
frequently proceed when the intellect is partially 
or almost wholly occupied with something else. 
Every soul should acquire this heavenly habit. 
No other is so safe and healthy for the soul. We 
should speak to God whenever we think of it. Oh, 
wondrous privilege! We commune with Him 
who sits enthroned among the myriads of lofty 



438 WORDS OF ADVICE 

intelligences, whose movements in obedience to 
his will are like the lightning's flash (Ez. 1 : 14), 
more intimately than it is possible to commune 
with our dearest earthly friend. It is madness 
not to avail ourselves of this astounding privilege, 
purchased for us by the blood of the Lamb, and 
bestowed by the Holy One. 

VI. Why has God required us to pray, seeing 
he knows our needs before we ask him ? 

L To keep us in memory of our dependence 
on him. The most destructive of all feelings is 
that of independence. 1. It is false. 2. It severs 
the soul from God. 3. It slanders God by assum- 
ing that he is insufficient, by contradicting his 
word — calls him a liar, — and by repudiating his gov- 
ernment — calls him a usurper. 4. It spurns his 
benevolence aud ridicules his bountiful provision 
for our wants. 5. It defies his power and author- 
ity. There is no feeling more welcome to the un- 
regenerate heart; none more pleasing to Satan. 
None other is so hateful to God. None but God 
is independent; therefore none other has a right 
to feel so. By his command, "Pray without ceas- 
ing" he reminds us of our perpetual need of his 
help. Nothing is more important for us to re- 
member. 

2. Prayer reminds us of our accountability to 
God. It does this by bringing the soul, as it were, 



TO YOUNG CHRISTIANS. 439 

face to face with him. While speaking to him we 
can not avoid the recollection that he knows our 
hearts, our moral condition, our secret thoughts, 
and that "God will bring every work into judgment, 
with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether 
it be evil." (Eccl. 12 : 1 4.) This keeps our thoughts 
from wandering u like the eyes of the fool to the 
ends of the earth." It keeps the whole man, soul 
and body, thoughts and tongue, from running in- 
to mischief. The soul can not reach after God and 
wickedness at the same time any more than the 
lungs can breathe pure and foul atmosphere at the 

same time. 

Pray, therefore, perpetually, breathing, as it 
were, the Holy Spirit, for the preservation of thy 
soul from moral death and the ruinous contagion 
around thee in this sinful world. When thy soul 
reaches after God it becomes consistent and right 
for him to do for thee what he could not other- 
wise do. Thou canst never turn Deity from his 
plans and purposes by praying. But, remember, 
it is his plan and purpose to save the soul only 
when it reaches after him and commits its entire 
being into his hand. This is true prayer. 

VII. Pray in Jesus' name. 

Neither prayer nor praise can be acceptably of- 
fered except through Jesus' name; that is, through 



440 WORDS OF ADVICE TO YOUNG CHRISTIANS. 

the atonement made by him. " Whatsoever ye do 
in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Je- 
sus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him." 
(Col. 3: 17.) We should begin, proceed, and end 
all our works in the name of our holy Redeemer. 
. Let him be all and in all. "To him be glory and 
dominion forever and ever" 



AMEN. 









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